The Illinois Institute of Technology Office of Professional and Continuing Education (OPCE) integrates university-wide resources to provide non-degree, credentialed training, coaching, and toolkits. Our office curates the knowledge, experience, and talent from across all of the colleges and institutes at the university in order to offer customized and interdisciplinary programs. We are the front door and central marketplace for professional and continuing education at Illinois Tech.
Our Philosophy
Our programs offer immersion, not tourism. We believe you cannot learn complex topics in a traditional classroom setting. Our programs are challenging; expect intense discussions and simulations that help improve decision-making under stress and uncertainty. Our goal is to immerse you into a culture, not give a guided tour from a safe distance.
We don’t just teach; we build. Illinois Tech’s founding architecture dean was famous for saying, “build, don’t talk.” Applying this thinking to leadership means that most of the time in the program will focus on building and refining skills, not listening to long lectures. Our programs are very active and will help form capability through practice, reflection, and iteration.
Our Offerings
We offer both open enrollment and custom-assembled programs. You can see a list of our current open enrollment offerings under the courses page. If you are interested in exploring a custom program for your organization, we would be happy to provide more details on timing, content, and costs. You can contact us here OPCE@iit.edu
When building a bespoke program, we begin the process by conducting an assessment that helps us understand the organization's needs, objectives, and timing. We then assemble a customized curriculum composed of a set of the following components:
- Seminars: one-to-two-hour interactive discussions that take a deep dive into a new tool or concept.
- Short courses: these 12 - 30 contact hour courses include brief lectures, simulations, small projects, group discussion, and individual reflection.
- Projects: guided, learn by doing practical, applied projects that help you practice and contextualize the tools and frameworks.
- Retreats: a dedicated, designed experience focused on learning through new experiences and learning through reflection.
- Coaching: office hours, offered on-site or remote, to support individuals or small groups on an ongoing basis.
- Community portal: a digital platform that combines content from your program (so you have access to it long term) plus new content from other programs, recommended articles and videos, reading lists, and invites to events and collaborations.