COLUMBUS, Ohio (COLUMBUS BUSINESS FIRST) – John Comerford is happy to direct Otterbein University engineering graduates to opportunities at Intel Corp.’s new Central Ohio plant. The problem is he’s only got a few dozen a year to offer them.

The college’s latest partnership could change that.

The Westerville school is teaming up with Antioch University to create a new, national system that will allow students from both schools – and others that might join – to take advantage of programming at partner institutions.

That could mean students from Otterbein taking Antioch courses not offered in Westerville and vice versa, although specifics are still being worked out. The system hopes to launch as early as fall 2023.

Comerford said the partnership is an opportunity to respond to workforce needs. Antioch focuses on adult learning programs at a handful of campuses nationwide and online. With that scale, the new system can go to employers such as Intel, find out what they need and design curricula that will educate a larger pool of qualified workers.

“We want to build new programs in partnership with employers,” Comerford said.

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