Georgia is home to more than 93 FinTech companies including eight publicly held organizations with a combined market capitalization that exceeds $22 billion. The state is considered an emerging leader in the industry which uses technology to offer various financial services to consumers. And with that comes an immediate need for skilled employees.
Monday, the Georgia Department of Education and the University System of Georgia announced a partnership that will create a high-school Career Pathway focused on financial technology (FinTech), which aligns to USG’s associates-level FinTech degree program.
“Georgia is a state that is fast becoming the global leader in FinTech, that is, Financial Technology,” said Cory Ruth, CEO at Mergence Global, a boutique consultancy and delivery house for Fortune 500 and Global 100 firms across industry sectors both internationally and throughout the US. “Globally, there were over 135 billion payment card transactions annually representing about 2.3 trillion dollars of consumer and commercial purchases. More than 85 billion of these transactions pass through the global networks of Financial Technology organizations in Georgia, chiefly in the Atlanta metropolitan. That is an astonishing 62 percent of all global financial transactions processed through our state.”
Ruth, who will be the featured CEO in the upcoming issues of James Magazine (look for it next week), went on to say, “Six of the eight publicly held FinTech companies that are based in the Peach State were ranked among American Banker’s FinTech 100 – all with a truly global reach. FinTech is a key growth sector for Georgia and I expect that the Georgia Department of Education’s recently announced FinTech curriculum will provide Georgia students with shrewd market awareness of this sector while pulling them to the front of the line from an employment market competitiveness perspective.”
Ruth also sits on the Board of Directors for the Georgia Technology Authority and has a unique perspective on the need for a skilled FinTech workforce in Georgia.
The high school FinTech pathway contains three courses modeled on those in the USG degree program. The courses may be offered as a standard high school pathway or can be offered for dual high-school and college credit. Students may also take the remaining two required FinTech courses and academic courses through dual enrollment, making it possible for a student to graduate high school with the USG degree program completed.
Business and industry representatives, USG partners, and high-school educators in finance and computer science content worked together to develop the USG courses into high-school courses while retaining their rigor, content, and integrity.
“The mission of our Career, Technical, and Agricultural Education program is to respond nimbly and quickly to workforce needs so students have the best possible opportunities for a successful future,” State School Superintendent Richard Woods said. “This is a perfect example of a partnership that will expand options for students and strengthen the local workforce in our state.”
An agreement between USG and GaDOE allows college credit to be granted for these three courses when the teacher possesses certain teaching credentials required by USG. This will provide students with college credit without the additional costs associated with dual enrollment.
