The National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), one of nine colleges at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT, United States), is the first and largest technological college in the world for students who are deaf or hard of hearing (DHH) with cutting edge programs aimed at increasing the employability of DHH persons, and at enhancing readiness of employers to utilize this talent. In 1968, with a pilot group of 70 deaf students at RIT, NTID’s ‘grand experiment’ was the first attempt within the United States to bring large numbers of deaf students into a hearing college environment, to help them earn college degrees, gain successful employment, and become productive community members (Lang and Connor, 2001). As of 2017, NTID boasts an alumni body of more than 8,000 and an active enrollment of 1,413 students across NTID’s and RIT’s Associate, Bachelors, and Graduate programs (integrated with RIT). NTID students have a higher persistence and graduation rate as compared with the national rates for all students, hearing and otherwise, at two-year and four-year colleges (NTID Annual Report, 2015). NTID boasts an employment rate of 94 per cent among its graduates and Associate degree graduates earn 95 per cent more than DHH graduates from other post-secondary institutions, while Bachelor's degree graduates earn 178 per cent more when compared similarly (NTID by the Numbers, 2017). Overall, NTID has become an international model for educating and preparing DHH students for technology-related careers.
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