The Connecticut Community College System through its College of Technology (COT) is developing an ATE Regional Center for Next Generation Manufacturing (RCNGM). The Center is the regional focal point for the education of an agile manufacturing workforce skilled in the implementation of advances in technology and capable of meeting the changing needs of the manufacturing industry. It is critical that career opportunities in advanced manufacturing and emerging technologies be well publicized and that students be educated to meet the needs of modern manufacturing. The widespread perception of manufacturing as dirty, noisy, mindless assembly lines, with no opportunities for advancement, must be changed. High tech, high skill, high wage manufacturing is critical to our nation's economic future, and this regional Center is creating a model for advanced manufacturing education programs.
The RCNGM is a partnership of the Community Colleges' College of Technology with the Manufacturing Institute of the National Association of Manufacturers, the Education Foundation of the Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA), the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, government agencies, and secondary and higher education institutions. The RCNGM builds on the successes of several ATE, CSEMS and CCLI grants received by the partners.
According to a 2003 CBIA member survey, manufacturers expect 69% of their workforce to retire in the next 10 years, creating an urgent need for new career pathways and new educational programs. The RCNGM is:
Establishing a manufacturing learning infrastructure and knowledge delivery system that includes web-based, blended instruction, and a strengthened 2 + 2 + 2 seamless pathway;
Involving industry to provide on-going guidance on skills needs, curriculum requirements, career pathways, and access to industry best practices and facilities for use in education;
Developing and adapting a solid, foundational core curriculum, with technology and industry electives that will assure up-to-date skills for employment and career development;
Marketing high tech manufacturing careers and career pathways and recruiting students;
Creating community college and secondary school faculty development opportunities in industry and university settings, and student internships;
Facilitating a student- and worker-focused collaborative infrastructure that sustains life- long learning, and encourages knowledge sharing and on-going professional development.
The intellectual merit of this program resides in the curriculum content, as well as in the variety of curriculum delivery approaches utilized to prepare a technical workforce in precision machining, photonics/laser applications, fuel cells/clean energy and medical device instrumentation. The broader impact of this Center for Next Generation Manufacturing is reflected in the partnership models it develops for industry and higher education to work together to prepare a skilled and diverse manufacturing workforce. It has national impact through the unique partnership with NAM, and with other ATE national and regional Centers and projects.
