Higher Ed Players Boost Supply of Quality Hires

Michigan continues to invest in its M-TECs — Michigan Technical Education Centers, of which there are now 16. As of October 1999, the state had awarded US$60 million in grants to build the training centers on the campuses of community colleges around the state. When all the centers are operational, over 20,000 students are expected to be trained annually, according to the Michigan Economic Development Corp. (www.michigan.org).

Thanks to the funding flows, training programs are increasingly sophisticated and automated. A consortium of The Lakeland (Fla.) Economic Development Council, 20 businesses, educational institutions and the Polk Workforce Development Board for instance, is putting a $896,000 federal grant into a new training program called “Skills for Life.” The program trains unemployed and underemployed people to become self-sufficient by working at participating company sites, which increases the labor pool. All training is tracked and stored in a database.

In Orlando, Fla., business, educational and political leaders are cooperating on several work-force development initiatives, including business leader “teach in” days and programs through which educators visit various industries to learn about specific needs and skills. Cirent Semiconductor, for example, conducts “Chip Camps,” where local high school science teachers participate in a three-day program to learn about the skills needed in the wafer-fabrication industry and how they can integrate specific coursework into their curriculum. Also, according to the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission, communities that span the I-4 corridor have community college and university participation in an initiative called the Tech 4 Consortium. The program lets educational leaders work directly with executives of high-tech companies to identify entry-level skill sets in their particular industries. The schools then develop relevant courses and programs that provide workers with targeted skills.

The Kansas City Area Development Council, too, is working with community colleges to institute programs that deliver skills sought after by semiconductor companies. Such skills translate to other technology-based businesses and have widespread appeal throughout the industrial community, the council maintains. Similarly, the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation partners with local companies to sponsor the Semiconductor Technology program, a two-year degree program at Alamo Community College.

Investing in Technology Workers

Most economic development officials agree that tomorrow’s work force will need a distinct set of “e-skills” and that areas that can deliver workers so equipped will have a distinct advantage.

The Buffalo Byte Belt Technology Development Initiative, for instance, which is a program of the Buffalo (N.Y.) Economic Renaissance Corp., is based on that premise. Members of the effort are investigating the creation of an IT Charter School as a means of ensuring an educated student population and work force.

August 1999 saw the opening of the University of Nebraska Peter Kiewit Institute, in Omaha, Neb. The $70 million facility was created to educate future technology workers and engineers and to provide the business community with a growing labor pool of skilled professionals. The University of Nebraska at Omaha’s College of Information Science and Technology and the University of Nebraska — Lincoln’s College of Engineering and Technology support the center, which features an experts-in-residence program. This program encourages executives from high-tech companies worldwide to spend a year or more teaching and mentoring students at the Institute. Senior managers from Boeing and IBM already have participated in the program.

“We’re preparing students to have the most sought after qualities in technology,” says James Moeser, chancellor at the University of Nebraska — Lincoln. “At the same time, we’re also creating new standards for how students, faculty, administrators and business leaders work together. It’s an exciting concept that offers tremendous potential for future endeavors.”
Universities also are playing a key role in Virginia’s Roanoke Valley, which this fall will see three new worker training facilities open, representing a combined investment of $30 million.

More than half that investment — $18 million — is funding the Roanoke Higher Education Center, offering third- and fourth-year college and graduate level programs administered by 12 participating colleges and universities, including Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia and Radford University. Also opening this fall are the Blue Ridge Technical Academy, which is based on the employer-linked charter school model endorsed by the National Alliance for Business, and the Education and Training Center at Greenfield, in Botetourt County.

South Carolina’s Special Schools program continues to be a major boon to employers seeking to establish or expand operations in the Palmetto State. The program provides company- and industry-specific pre-employment training for new and expanding industries in the state. Special Schools, a division of the state’s technical education system, serves in effect as a company’s outsourced human resources department; it handles recruiting and advertising, development of course curriculum, and education of trainers and new staff members.