... More universities and other learning providers are reaching out to practitioners at all career stages, and employers see value in offering or supporting lifelong learning as a retention tool. Many are taking advantage of new technologies to expand offerings in scope and reach....

... “The challenges are related to access. For a working engineer with a commute and a family, time is an issue. And if it's formal training being considered, who will pay?” says Joseph Helble, dean of the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth University, Hanover, N.H. “Is the employer supportive? Does a manager encourage continuing education, or is it solely an employee's responsibility? Proximity to a campus is also an issue for formal training. For distance-learning programs, finding high-quality, low-cost, professionally recognized opportunities was identified as a real challenge.”