On an innovation campus, apprenticeships and internships are just some of the benefits

Stephen Addison

IN THE FALL semester of 2026, the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) will open an innovation campus. What is an innovation campus? It’s a shared environment in which students and faculty collaborate on projects and work opportunities with industrial partners. These collaborations involve students in academic programs as well as students involved in vocational or workforce development programs, including apprenticeships, internships, or work assignments.

The Innovation Campus at the University of Central Arkansas is a joint venture of the University of Central Arkansas, the University of Arkansas Community College (UACCM), and the Conway Development Corporation (CDC). To be housed in a facility originally designed for Hewlett-Packard, the Innovation Campus is approximately a nine-minute drive south of the existing UCA campus. There it will house academic programs and workforce training in one section and industry in another section. The co-location of two- and four-year programs, along with industrial partners, will provide exceptional opportunities for both students and employers. The campus will open with a limited number of classes in engineering in fall 2026; a full slate of classes will be offered in spring 2027.

The Innovation Campus will focus on innovative and state-of-the-art teaching and learning opportunities in an interdisciplinary, collaborative space designed to strengthen connections between academic programs and workforce development in support of regional economic growth. The facility will provide space for UCA’s expanding engineering programs, as well as for other technology-based programs that will be enhanced by frequent interactions with industry. The Arkansas Coding Academy will also be relocated to this campus. In addition, UACCM will operate an industrial training area. The facility will also house a fabrication lab to serve the needs of program participants.

The Innovation Campus will aid UCA in bridging the gap between classroom learning and industrial expectations. The open-plan campus will be reconfigurable to meet evolving needs, and students will learn in project-based environments that will prepare them for employment in high-demand fields. The space will support both research and collaboration with industry, and innovation and entrepreneurship opportunities will be essential parts of the student experience.

Arkansas employers find that there’s a shortage of potential home-grown employees qualified for positions as technicians or engineers, and, as a result, employers are often forced to recruit employees from out of state. The consensus, however, is that such recruiting is expensive, time-consuming, and, ultimately, ineffective—typically more than half of those out-of-state recruits leave within 18 months, and within five years almost all are gone. In contrast, locally recruited employees are far more likely to become long-term employees and advance in the company. Employer participation in an innovation campus not only provides access to potential employees through internships and other working relationships, it also enhances the likelihood that those potential permanent employees will choose to work for the companies that participated in their training or education.

Academic programs also benefit from the industrial partnerships developed through innovation campuses. The close working relationships developed through regular interactions ensure that academic programs are up to date on the changing needs of industry. This ensures that students completing academic and training programs are work-ready on day one. Another benefit to academic programs is access to state-of-the-art technologies. Industrial equipment is evolving at ever-increasing rates, and this comes at a time when educational costs are of increasing concern to potential students. The result is that it’s ever more difficult for educational institutions to make state-of-the-art equipment available to students in the classroom.

At the same time, the rate of technology-driven change in industry no longer affords companies the luxury of starting new employees in long training programs, so they need employees who are job-ready on day one. Industry has no choice—if they don’t keep up, they lose their markets to those who do. And this leads to another advantage for innovation campuses—the manufacturing equipment used by the industrial partner serves as the laboratory site for the student; there’s no need for a separate educational laboratory. This dual use ensures that students learn the latest technologies and that educational institutions have access to those technologies without the need to create separate costly facilities.

It’s very clear, then, that innovation campuses provide advantages for all participants—the industrial partners, the participating educational institutions, and most importantly the students who are provided with state-of-the-art training and education. The UCA Innovation campus will be more than just another building—it will be a facility that embraces our university role as a leader in applied and interdisciplinary learning. It will provide new opportunities for residents of central Arkansas, and it will expand our ability to meet workforce needs in engineering, technology, and informatics in a variety of areas, as well as in the skilled trades. And for those Arkansans interested in reskilling or upskilling, the Innovation Campus will provide scalable solutions for internships, apprenticeships, and the rewarding careers right here at home.
__________________________________
Dr. Stephen Addison is Professor of Physics and Dean, College of Science and Engineering, at the University of Central Arkansas.