New Partners in Education

In a weak economy with high unemployment and few job openings, some educators are strengthening their relationships with local businesses to ensure that graduating students are trained for the jobs available. This approach is especially valuable in the engineering industry, where technologies are constantly changing and colleges need to stay current in order to produce competitive graduates.

Don Schultz, director of the Professional Automotive Training Center at Shoreline Community College, saw the value in such partnerships when he made a phone call to the Puget Sound Automotive Dealers Association. His goal was to find out what kinds of graduates the local auto industry wanted to hire and to tailor his program to meet their needs.

The result is a program where students graduate not only with a degree and some certifications, Schultz says, but also with a job. They work in a facility that was recently expanded by 26,000 square feet. Local auto dealers donated the $4.2 million needed to build the expansion, as well as the tools, new cars and spare parts with which the students work.

In return for their investment, the dealers get a trained workforce. The program graduates about 120 new students per year. It also facilitates short training programs for employed technicians to get updated on working with new models, including hybrids and electric cars. Approximately 6,000 to 10,000 working technicians come through for additional training each year. The next closest training centers for many of these auto dealers are in California, so the program trains a local workforce for local businesses.

The Material Science Technology program at Edmonds Community College has also taken this approach to education. Its courses train students to work with composites, a building material being increasingly put to use in everything from cars and airplanes to shower stalls.

The program is supported by a board of representatives from Boeing, Airtech Instrument Company Inc. and other local manufacturers who advise the college on the types of training to offer students. There are about 10 graduates per year, some of whom begin jobs at these companies while others go on to universities to earn bachelor’s degrees in fields such as plastics engineering.

Instructor Ross Monroe says he expects a substantial increase in manufacturing jobs in Washington state in the next 5 to 10 years. Since composites are being used more and more in manufacturing, his program is training a workforce for an emerging field.

As more job opportunities emerge around the state, partnerships between education and business may prove useful to filling in the job gap in some industries.

“I believe the mission of the community college is to serve the community,” Schultz says. “We want to develop partnerships where all the partners win.”

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