We Are The Independents

MCA is the only consortium in private higher education to promote its universities and colleges collectively through a dedicated campaign, demonstrating the commitment of our members to collaborative impact. WATI has become a powerful higher education resource for Michigan families. It provides guidance on college preparation, college choice, financial aid, and other useful information in the college planning process.
[ VISIT THE WATI WEBSITE ]

Kalamazoo Promise Partnership

Beginning in 2014, MCA joined forces with the Kalamazoo Promise to expand college choice for students receiving the Kalamazoo Promise Scholarship. This nationally recognized program, now in year thirteen, has granted more than $100 million in scholarship funding to deserving students from Kalamazoo. Only MCA’s 14 member institutions and Michigan public universities and community are eligible to receive Promise scholarships.

Kalamazoo Math and Science Institute

The Kalamazoo Math and Science Institute (KMSI) is a partnership between MCA, The Kalamazoo Promise and the Kalamazoo Public School system (KPS). KMSI, held each summer with KPS rising ninth graders, is an innovative experiential learning program designed to develop proficiency in algebra and biology, two key indicators of student success. KMSI builds on MCA’s decade long and proven experience in environmental education and leverages distinctive expertise from MCA faculty.  [DONATE]

MCA Campus Community Challenge

M-C3 is a student entrepreneurial scholarship competition that incorporates real-world, project-based learning into student experiences at member colleges and universities. Building on MCA’s legacy of entrepreneurship and social impact project competitions, M-C3 incorporates these themes, and is open to individual students or teams, with the option for faculty mentors and community partners. Generous scholarships and stipends are awarded to winning submissions.

SAGE Scholars

MCA has formed a powerful alliance with Sage Scholars to unleash a new scholarship source for students. A growing network of nearly 400 private universities and colleges nationally, the Sage consortium works with corporate partners to provide scholarship benefits to their employees and customers through a one of a kind “tuition rewards” system. MCA is working to expand this private sector college affordability strategy in Michigan and other Midwest states.

Folds of Honor Scholarship

Supporting veteran children in the most challenging circumstances, MCA has created an unprecedented new scholarship award, in conjunction with the Folds of Honor Foundation and Copper Standard. The Folds of Honor Scholarship provides “full ride” scholarship awards for children of families with a parent either disabled or killed in the line of duty. This program, offered only at MCA schools, fills a much-needed gap in America’s support of its heroes.

Mackinac Roundtable on Talent

Since 2013, MCA’s annual Mackinac Roundtable on Talent has brought together higher education and corporate leaders in an “Aspen Institute” setting to exchange ideas and build partnerships to prepare students for success in the 21st-century workplace. Held at the iconic Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, the Mackinac Roundtable on Talent hosts participants from more than 36 states—with some 100 college and university presidents and as many corporate leaders represented.
[ WATCH VIDEO ]

Concierge Career Connection

The MCA Concierge Career Connection is an exclusive, one-stop recruiting link to 14 excellent four-year colleges and universities. The program provides access and selection support for potential full-time employees, interns, and project teams in areas of immediate need to our corporate partners.  With its 74 year consortia relationship with its member institutions, MCA identifies and engages talent, often working directly with faculty who teach and mentor students, for the benefit of Michigan companies.

Center for Advancing Student Outcomes

Center for Advancing Student Outcomes (CASO) is a program designed to create and support out-of-classroom career learning initiatives. An innovation incubator for student career achievement, CASO was launched at the 2017 Roundtable on Talent and has gained wide campus support. Programs launched with CASO support include digital badging in critical thinking, the Google Course Share Pilot, and the Harvard Business School Online collaboration.

Digital Badging Pilot in Critical Thinking

In partnership with the Washington, D.C. based Education Design Lab, MCA piloted a new digital badge (microcredential) in student critical thinking skills. Aquinas College, Hope College, and Andrews University have participated in a cutting-edge program, in which campus and corporate teams codified and tested student skill in applying critical analysis, a hallmark of MCA schools, to real-life situations out of the classroom. Since the pilot, additional badges in intercultural fluency and Design Thinking have been developed and implemented on MCA member campuses.

Google Course Share Pilot

In a rare collaboration with Google and Steelcase, MCA led in the development of a course share pilot program with three member campuses (Albion College, Alma College, and Calvin University). Through smart classrooms on each campus (equipped with Google video conferencing and digital whiteboard technology and state of the art room design and furniture), campuses in different geographic locations cross-register students in “real time” classroom settings, resulting in newly expanded course offerings and cost efficiencies.
[ WATCH VIDEO ]

Stryker Engineering Challenge

Each year, Stryker Corporation hosts a high-profile student engineering competition. Invited campuses include such notable engineering schools as the University of Notre Dame, Purdue University, University of Michigan, Michigan Tech, and Michigan State University. Beginning in 2015, MCA joined the competition, with a team comprised of students from Hope College, Calvin University, the University of Detroit Mercy, and Andrews University. “Team MCA” has excelled in the program from the outset, finishing as runner-up in two of the past four years and in 2019, took home first place!

MCA & Harvard Business School Collaboration

MCA and Harvard Business School are collaborating on a new venture to broaden business and career education for MCA students from all majors. Working with Harvard’s online digital learning program, “blended instruction” is being offered at Adrian College, Albion College, Andrews University, Aquinas College and Siena Heights University, leveraging content from Harvard Business School Online courses augmented by experiences and instruction overseen by MCA professors. Harvard faculty also are engaged in designing and supporting new MCA courses using this format.

Cooperative Learning Collaborative

A multi-disciplinary student cooperative education program, CLC is a collaboration of MCA institutions, signature employers, non-profit organizations, campus faculty, and students. The program facilitates student career readiness with a unique format, while supporting talent pipelines for partner employers. A scaffolded approach over two academic sessions provides students with real-world work experience, leadership development, and professional mentoring, while participating employers have early access to top talent and faculty-guided projects to support their organizations.