Institute for Professional Development

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Professional Development | Job Skills | Customized Training Program | Instructors Wanted 
Community Education | Online Community Education Courses | Policies & Procedures 
Small Business Development Center | Class Schedule | Flagging Certification

About Us
The Institute for Professional Development (IPD) at Columbia Basin College was created to help meet the Continuing Education needs of the citizens of Benton and Franklin counties and to better serve the needs of our business community.  The College is looking forward to working with local businesses and individual citizens to meet their training and educational needs. 

The IPD will help customers meet their business goals by:

• Providing an assessment of the customers training needs
• Providing a range of training choices and methods
• Designing, coordinating, and delivering training programs that meet the customers needs
• Developing new adult certificate, degree and professional development classes for corporate and workforce programs
• Providing training that is affordable to the customer
• Supplying expert professional trainers with practical experience
• Conducting training in a variety of modalities to achieve customer goals. Classes may be offered on-site, on campus, online, or other distance education modalities
• Meeting or exceeding customer expectations regarding quality, effectiveness, cost, convenience, and service.
• Assisting customers in acquiring funding for training when possible.

The Institute will provide flexible, convenient, customized training that is customer oriented. The services provided are expected to have a real impact upon organizations and businesses by helping them achieve their goals for productivity, income, and employee performance. The IPD will be available to any business, industry, and government and public sector organization requesting services.  Careful attention is paid to designing and presenting programs and training that are based upon a systematic assessment of the individual customer needs, delineation of expected outcomes, and identification of data which will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the training efforts.

Professional Development & Business Education Classes
The Institute for Professional Development at Columbia Basin College will strengthen your workforce’s knowledge and skills through careful assessment and planning of courses and customized training. As a result, your business will increase its productivity and competitiveness.

For more information visit Professional Development.

Continuing Education
Continuing education courses may be offered face-to-face in a classroom setting, online, or in a mixture of classroom and online experiences. Classes are scheduled on and off campus. These classes will be offered at times and locations intended to meet the needs of workers wanting to upgrade professional skills needed in the workplace.

Community Education
The IPD will provide community education classes and workshops in response to community needs and requests. All community education courses are non-credit, and are not intended to transfer to any college or university. All community education classes and workshops are student supported. No state dollars are used to pay for the offerings.  The cost of the offerings is fully supported by the registration fees.

For more information visit Community Education.

Online Classes - Ed2Go
Columbia Basin College is now offering a variety of courses via the internet directly to your home or business. We have partnered with Education to Go in order to provide high quality instructor-facilitated courses that fit your schedule.

To learn more about online classes visit Online Community Education Courses.

Small Business Development Center
The SBDC provides assistance to entrepreneurs and independent business owners and managers who are interested in developing, improving, or expanding their businesses. Counseling is available in a variety of areas, from developing business, marketing, or financial plans, to interviewing, hiring and training employees, and implementing computer applications in the workplace. Services include one-on-one counseling, networking, and education programs.

For more information visit Small Business Development Center.