Higher Education Partnership
Bring together colleges, universities, manufacturers, workforce partners, economic developers, industry associations, and public leaders around one applied course initiative.
Education / Course
In-person courses and experiential learning.
The reshoring course model turns state manufacturing opportunity into applied instruction, manufacturer engagement, student research, and actionable proposals.
Course framework
From classroom instruction to actionable reshoring proposals.
The course model gives students practical instruction and applied research opportunities in trade, tariffs, supply chains, industrial policy, manufacturing strategy, workforce development, and economic implementation planning.
Plant + Partner Engagement
Use site visits, manufacturer interviews, partner briefings, and production-context discussions so students understand real operations, constraints, and opportunities.
Eight-Week Applied Course
Structure the learning around industry analysis, tariff impacts, state manufacturing capability mapping, industrial policy evaluation, and implementation planning.
Operating Model
The host institution delivers the course while NRC provides the framework, methodology, data model, employer context, and subject-matter support.
Student-Led Proposals
Culminate in reshoring proposals and presentations that identify actionable manufacturing and economic development opportunities for the state.
Long-Term Pipeline
Build recurring student research, workforce development, manufacturing innovation, and economic development intelligence that can support state businesses and communities.
Case study
Plastics + rubbers: Spring 2026 course at WVU.
This Spring 2026 course example from the WVU Supply Chain Management Program shows how students evaluated a plastics and rubbers reshoring opportunity using trade data, manufacturer capability research, importer demand signals, cost modeling, and implementation planning.
What the course produces
A public-facing example of applied student work from a Spring 2026 WVU Supply Chain Management course.
Open Case StudyBuilt for public learning
The case study shows the method, deliverables, and value of the course model in a way other states and education partners can understand.
Reusable method
The process can be repeated across other sectors, states, product categories, manufacturers, importers, and chapter opportunities.
Learning areas
What students study inside the reshoring course.
The course is built around practical subject matter that helps a state understand where import dependence can become domestic production.
International Trade
How imports, exports, trade balances, and product flows reveal state-level production gaps and opportunities.
Tariffs + Supply Chain Risk
How tariff exposure, geopolitical risk, reliability concerns, and foreign dependency affect business decisions.
Manufacturing Capability Mapping
How to map local manufacturers, supplier capacity, infrastructure, energy, logistics, and industrial assets.
Industrial Policy
How states can evaluate incentives, legislation, resolutions, public comments, and nonpartisan policy tools.
Workforce Development
How reshoring connects to skills, credentials, apprenticeships, community colleges, universities, and employer needs.
Implementation Planning
How to move from research into targets, partner lists, project concepts, timelines, and measurable next steps.
Experiential learning
The point is not abstract manufacturing education.
Students and partners study real import gaps, supplier capacity, workforce needs, capital requirements, and policy design. The output is a practical reshoring proposal that a state, manufacturer, university, or economic development partner can use.
Students
Work on live research questions, supplier discovery, industry interviews, manufacturing maps, policy analysis, and state opportunity briefs.
States
Use coursework and research as a practical way to build capacity inside economic development, higher education, workforce systems, and legislative conversations.
Manufacturers
Engage with students, educators, and public partners around real production needs, supplier gaps, reshoring opportunities, and implementation projects.
Student feedback
Applied projects make reshoring real for students.
Early course and capstone work shows how students respond when the learning is tied to real companies, real supply chains, and real state opportunity.
"A fun and eye-opening project that showed us the impact reshoring could have on the state and the companies within it."
WVU Supply Chain Management student team
"Allowed us to gain real-world experience before graduation."
WVU Supply Chain Management student team