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CORVALLIS, Ore. — Oregon State University is expanding its relationship with Samaritan Health Services to provide thousands of the regional health system’s employees with more affordable access to academic programs and workforce education opportunities online.

All 6,000 Samaritan employees in the mid-Willamette Valley and central Oregon coast are eligible for reduced tuition scholarships through a collaboration with Oregon State Ecampus, the university’s online education unit.

The Samaritan workers have access to more than 100 Oregon State degrees, programs and microcredentials online, including undergraduate- and graduate-level offerings in fields related to health, public policy, business, social sciences and engineering. Microcredentials are three-course bundles that enable learners to quickly gain new skills to meet industry needs.

“This collaboration is a natural and exciting extension of Oregon State’s land grant mission to make learning more accessible and affordable for people throughout the state,” said Lisa L. Templeton, vice provost of OSU’s Division of Educational Ventures. “Through Oregon State’s high-quality online programs, we’re honored to support all Samaritan employees, who do so much good throughout our communities.”

The agreement follows the recent opening of Oregon State’s new Health Center,  a partnership between Samaritan and OSU’s Student Health Services. Samaritan offers primary care and SamCare Express services to OSU students, faculty and staff as well as the public at the 30,000-square-foot facility.

“At Samaritan Health Services, we value lifelong learning and helping open doors for our employees to achieve personal and professional growth,” said Scott Russell, Samaritan’s vice president of human resources. “We are excited to team up with Oregon State University to make higher education more accessible.”

This is the latest in a series of similar corporate collaborations Oregon State Ecampus has formed with organizations, including Amazon, Guild, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management and Peet’s Coffee.