The Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA), the College of Technology (COT), and the Connecticut Technical High School System (CTHSS) are collaborating to increase the number of young people entering technical careers in Next Generation Manufacturing. The COT, representing 12 community colleges, was awarded a Regional Center in Next Generation Manufacturing (RCNGM) in fall of 2004 to develop college level technician outreach and education in advanced manufacturing technologies. This project is designed to complement the work of the Center to ensure that entering students are prepared for college level work, leading to careers in advanced manufacturing. The project targets six community colleges and six technical high schools in three regions of the state with strong manufacturing employment opportunities coordinated with strong industrial support. Students are being encouraged to pursue manufacturing careers. The project emphasizes to students the importance of mastering more rigorous curriculum in science, technology, engineering, and math. Students receive business and industry and college support to succeed in academic courses.
Industry analyses conducted by the NAM, CBIA, Battelle Institute and the U.S. and Connecticut's Departments of Labor have documented the growing need for skilled manufacturing workers. Despite the loss of manufacturing jobs overseas and significant productivity improvements, the unmet demand for high skilled manufacturing workers to replace aging baby boomers is growing and will become acute in the future if new interventions are not developed and sustained. Recruiting students for manufacturing is a formidable task for the technical high schools and community colleges, requiring the support and close collaboration with local manufacturers. The sophisticated academic, technical, and employability skills needed in advanced manufacturing are often lacking in students graduating from Connecticut's technical high schools, preventing them from taking technical courses at the community colleges. Low income and minority students, in particular, need credible information about career opportunities in manufacturing and strategies in place to ensure that they can attain the requisite skills for employment. Likewise, manufacturers need to know that strong, articulated programs exist to prepare students for their industry. This project addresses these unmet needs by developing a pipeline that targets under-represented students and prepares them for high skill, high wage manufacturing jobs.
This project is reinforcing recently initiated teacher/faculty collaboration, taking place under the RCNGM, to develop a seamless curriculum between the high schools and colleges. CBIA, as the statewide business association, is recruiting manufacturers to become involved in the Connecticut State Scholars' Program, which supports technical high school students as they take more rigorous STEM classes. CBIA is also expanding their successful ATE professional development program which provides faculty with employer based opportunities to stay current with new technologies and industrial practices. Through this partnership, faculty, students and employers work together to achieve the project goals.
