Going Higher Tech
Technical-school programs adjust to meet the needs of businesses
by Andrea Weed
As more employers seek workers with post-secondary credentials, they’re finding fewer qualified candidates who can fill those skilled positions. Moving to plug that gap, area technical schools are transforming technical education into in-demand career tracks, generating economic security for previously under-prepared workers in a changing job market.
By responding to both worker and work-force needs, they are giving graduates the tools they need to be sought-after workers, program administrators say. One way they’re trying to bridge the disconnect between education and the work force is by offering intensive 12-week programs that can rapidly move workers into the labor pool, much like the range of offerings at Metropolitan Community College.
“It’s an ongoing process. In the last 10 years, we have seen dramatic changes in virtually every industry,” said Tom Wheeler, dean of instruction for MCC’s Business & Technology campus. “Future employees need to be able to learn, change and adapt, and they need the fundamental learning skills to be able to do so. We have to stay as current as possible and work closely with employers to find out what needs they have and how we can keep our curriculum up-to-date to meet those needs.”
Though Missouri and Kansas boast many technical colleges and programs statewide, Kansas City itself isn’t home to many schools that focus explicitly on technical education. In response, local community colleges and high schools offer programs to meet those needs.
MCC, for example, is teaching students the fundamental skills they need to enter growing industry work forces in manufacturing, fabrication and industrial maintenance. “What businesses are really looking for in future employees,” Wheeler said, “are people who can hit the ground running when they arrive on the job.”
Those efforts also involve collaborations with local businesses to develop programs customized to Kansas City’s needs. For example, MCC has teamed up with Cerner Corp. to develop a career program specifically for the needs of the medical health records company. Students are taught and trained in a format that aligns specifically with Cerner’s structure.
Debbie Goodall, president of the Business & Technology campus, said “keeping equipment updated and as similar as possible to what students will be using in the work force is a major challenge.” With help from IBM, Cerner and Missouri consortium grants, MCC is producing a simulation laboratory with equipment comparable to what students would be exposed to at Cerner.
“Because of the new technologies used in manufacturing plants, there are fewer career options in this industry sector for people without some education and training beyond high school,” said Goodall. “Manufacturers need workers with specific skills and, ideally, a general understanding of process and quality. They need people who know what they’re doing.” Technical schools are reacting to the market’s needs and trying to supply as many skilled laborers as possible—as quickly as possible—through intensive training programs and advanced studies.
Students at Cass Career Center are required to take a skills assessment exam, designed by industry professionals, prior to graduation. “The industry tells us what skills they expect from graduates and we design our curriculum around those expectations,” said center director Gina Smith. The center collaborates with schools like MCC and Linn State Technical College, and roughly half the students move on to continue their education.
On the Kansas side, Johnson County Community College is using software technologies to determine exactly where employer’s needs are. Marilyn Rhinehart, chief academic officer, explained that “Timing is a challenge for us; we don’t want to get too far ahead, because there won’t be jobs yet, and falling behind just puts employees where they were before they came to us.”
The college also took steps to become directly involved with the market by establishing a new outreach location in Lawrence that hosts “drive-in workshops” where adults who are looking to continue their education and advance their occupational skills can meet with other professionals in their field. The feedback from those professionals provides the college with the information that administrators need to continue their support of rapid-paced industries.
Strictly a technical-education school, the Cass Career Center has eased student learning by combining traditional academic instruction with specific skill-set training. True career readiness, Smith said, doesn’t only mean being prepared to enter the work force; it also means being prepared to go back to college, if needed, to make sure your skills are up to date with employer needs.
Even for those who are taking tremendous leaps to support growth, there are challenges, said Goodall. “It is increasingly difficult to find and retain qualified instructors,” Goodall said. Because the need for qualified employees is so great in many industries, faculty members themselves become leading candidates for positions, setting up competition between the colleges and the businesses they’re trying to serve.