As the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) expands its Registered Apprenticeship College Consortium (RACC) among community colleges and employer partners, those involved are looking to countries like Germany and Switzerland for inspiration. In some cases, that has meant partnering with companies from those countries, which have had more comprehensive…

Partnerships between community colleges and employers to create apprenticeships have been around for decades. These traditionally have covered fields like the building trades--electrical, construction and others--as well as heavy manufacturing like the automobile industry. Inspired partly by a new federal apprenticeship consortium--and $175…