Reinventing healthcare education at City Colleges

Over the past three months, Civic Consulting Alliance, Oliver Wyman, and the City Colleges of Chicago have worked together to improve clinical (experiential) learning and student outcomes at Malcolm X College, where over 20 health profession pathways are being consolidated into a new, $251 million campus. Clinical studies compose half of the learning in the City Colleges health sciences program.

The team interviewed educators at Malcolm X and other institutions, health care organizations, and MBA programs for best practices to develop and support a clinical rotation strategy for 1,500 students and more than 150 pro bono educational partners that range from hospitals to community health centers. Employment prospects are strong for City Colleges' health sciences graduates: New jobs in related fields are expected to total 84,000 in the region in the next decade.

As part of the Colleges to Careers initiative, City Colleges has compounded the value of the project by using Malcolm X College and its health sciences consolidation as a model for aligning programs at the other six City Colleges with their respective College to Careers industry focus.

The project represents continued Civic Consulting Alliance partnership with the City Colleges of Chicago in a long-term collaboration to reinvent one of the largest community college systems in the nation.