Career Cluster Inventory of Program Offerings

This draft document reclassifies programs of study currently offered at 2-year community colleges in New Jersey to prepare students for occupations and groups each program within career pathways of the 16 career clusters identified by the “States’ Career Cluster Initiative” (www.careerclusters.org ). Grouping programs of study offered by postsecondary institutions into “career clusters” provides educators with a means of: identifying equivalent or similar programs of study offered to students at postsecondary institutions; identifying sequential courses in these programs that prepare students for entry to professional-level occupations for which students can earn college credit during high school; structuring learning environments in secondary schools around broad industry themes or career clusters; and designing a plan for implementing a program of study that will provide students with different career options around these broad industry themes. This document may also be helpful to students and parents in locating colleges or universities that offer programs of study that fulfill students’ career aspirations.

NOTE: This document is currently under revision and is subject to change. It was developed based upon analysis of “The New Jersey Commission on Higher Education Program Inventory.” Programs of study included in this document were reclassified by career cluster. The programs were then grouped under the corresponding career pathways in accordance with criteria established by the “States’ Career Cluster Initiative” (www.careerclusters.org)

This document reclassifies programs of study currently offered at 4-year colleges and universities in New Jersey to prepare students for occupations and groups each program within career pathways of the 16 career clusters identified by the “States’ Career Cluster Initiative” (www.careerclusters.org ). Grouping programs of study offered by postsecondary institutions into “career clusters” provides educators with a means of: identifying equivalent or similar programs of study offered to students at postsecondary institutions; identifying sequential courses in these programs that prepare students for entry to professional-level occupations for which students can earn college credit during high school; structuring learning environments in secondary schools around broad industry themes or career clusters; and designing a plan for implementing a program of study that will provide students with different career options around these broad industry themes. This document may also be helpful to students and parents in locating colleges or universities that offer programs of study that fulfill students’ career aspirations.