The manager of a billion-dollar-plus investment fund for a majororganization shook his head as he ordered a beer. He’d beenattempting to fill a key staff position for months. And althoughhe’d sifted through nearly 200 resumes, not a single one had thebasic requirements called for.

“We threw them all away,” he said. “We’re starting over.”

His lament echoes the dilemma of many a hiring manager thesedays. As the global economy continues to perform well, the toptalent available for hiring is disappearing. A recent study by the partner relationship management firmImpartner found that nine out of 10 respondents in the sales arenacan’t fill available positions, and that the problem hasintensified in the past year. Managers who have the good ones nowrealize they need to do what it takes to keep them, because findinga replacement on the open market is like looking for the proverbialneedle in the haystack.

Many of these managers point to today’s educational system asthe reason they can’t find well-rounded talent. Universities simplyaren’t graduating highly trained professionals quicklyenough—particularly in such fields as computer science, medicineand finance.

But not all companies are passively accepting the situation.Some, including Microsoft and Linux, are partnering with onlinelearning experts to develop curriculum designed to produce theworkers they need more quickly than universities are producingthem. And, like other solutions that bubble up from the privatesector, this kind of action is encouraging some in academia topartner with these for-profits, both for their short- and long-termgain.

There’s a huge disconnect between how well academia thinks itsdoing in producing the employees of the future, and the businessview of that job. Gallup found that 96 percent of higher ed surveyrespondents say they’re effectively training the people businessneeds. But only 11 percent of business leaders interviewedagreed.

Microsoft’s partnership with Eastern Washington University isperhaps the model of an emerging solution to the talent shortage.As reported by Wired, Microsoft has developed its owncurriculum for degrees in data analytics and computer science. Thecompany convinced Eastern Washington to adopt the program, which itintegrated into its course options in less than a year, unveilingthe new tracks this fall.

Of course, the partners haven’t gone so far as to directlypromise the new grads expected to emerge next summer straight intothe Microsoft universe. But with the company’s financial supportand recruiters on hand to meet the new grads, Microsoft has taken amajor step forward in addressing its recruitment needs.

Other tech employers, facing a yawning potential gap between newjobs being created over the next decade and the pace of graduatesproduced, are taking similar steps. And just as these employers aretaking measures into their own hands, entrepreneurs are launching new ventures designed to connect employers withacademic programs willing to integrate off-the-shelf courses intotheir curricula.

As reported by Wired, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has steppedinto the fray. He’s unveiled Woz U, which offers online techcourses, which will be offered through a for-profit onlineuniversity, Southern Careers. Harvard and MIT have created anonline educational pathway, dubbed edX, that facilitatescollaboration between employers and educators to more quicklyproduce graduates with the full range of skills needed for specificoccupations.

“The challenging thing for colleges is that the technologychanges so quickly that by the time you get your program up andrunning, you have to make a lot of changes and updates to keep itrelevant,” Lee Rubenstein, vice president of business developmentat edX, told Wired. With corporate help in developing the coursesneeded to meet today’s needs, that process can be highlyaccelerated, he said.

While such ventures and partnerships are in the early stages ofdevelopment, the funds that can potentially be handed over fromemployers to academia to achieve the outcome desired is certain tolead to the expansion of such programs. With the talent shortagealready at a crisis state in the tech sector, the Microsoft’s ofthe world are leading the charge and setting the tone forthis evolving business/academic partnership.