ICAPP/UPS/Georgia State Partnership
The State of Georgia is committing to a partnership with United Parcel Service totaling more than $800,000 through the University System of Georgia’s Intellectual Capital Partnership Program (ICAPP) initiative. Georgia is providing $555,740 to pay faculty costs, and UPS is providing in-kind contributions of classroom space valued at $267,506.
Through ICAPP Advantage, Georgia State University will educate 17 Georgians as Web Software Developers during the first year. The 21-week program for Web Software Developer includes 10 degree-credit courses. The intensive curriculum is a combination of existing courses and courses specially tailored to the needs of UPS.
Each graduate of the Web Software Developer program will be offered a job at UPS with a starting annual salary averaging $56,850. The first annual payroll payments to the 17 graduates are estimated to be more than $1.0 million, with cumulative payments over five years totaling to approximately $7 million.
Gov. Barnes is a strong supporter of the ICAPP program, which accelerates the infusion of well-paid “knowledge workers” into Georgia’s economy. “UPS can select employees with the values and attitudes that it wants, while ICAPP provides the needed technical expertise through Georgia State University,” Gov. Barnes stated. “ICAPP continues to build an excellent reputation for providing the career-specific education that Georgia companies need. And because studies show that ICAPP Advantage nets a greater than 15:1 return on the State’s investment, today’s announcement benefits the State of Georgia, UPS, and Georgia State University.”
The UPS INNOPLEX in Roswell, Georgia, is expanding and has a critical shortage of Web developers. The INNOPLEX brings together teams from information technology, marketing, communications, and other business functions to bring software products and solutions to market faster than ever before. UPS employs approximately 120 IT professionals at the INNOPLEX, which opened in May 2000, and plans to hire over 100 more in 2001. “Planning for the future is extremely important for information technology professionals” said Dr. Eph McLean co-director of the project at Georgia State. “Regardless of the short-term swings in the economy, the Federal Government still predicts the most hiring shortages in information technology in the coming decade. The ICAPP program provides a unique opportunity for businesses to get qualified people, ready to work on projects immediately upon graduation, without further training,” he said.
Each person completing the program successfully will also satisfy the requirements of an undergraduate upper-division major in Computer Information Systems at Georgia State University.
UPS has been a full partner in the design of the ICAPP curriculum, working with Georgia State to identify the company’s specific instructional needs.
ICAPP is the economic development program of the University System of Georgia. ICAPP Advantage (one of the five programs of ICAPP) is a direct economic development incentive that helps companies meet immediate human resources needs.