Pieces of skilled-worker pipeline finally falling into place

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Connecticut manufacturers and CBIA have been working with state educators over the years to make changes in the schools so that young people entering the workforce have the skills and knowledge needed for today’s manufacturing jobs. And, here and there, a few technical high schools and community colleges have offered machining and precision machining programs. But, until recently, there hasn’t been a coordinated pathway for technical students to follow as they progressed from high school to more advanced education and training.

Now, “the pieces of the skilled-worker pipeline are finally being put into place,” says Lauren Weisberg Kaufman, CBIA vice president and executive director of the association’s Education Foundation. “Pathways are being created between the technical high schools and the state’s technical colleges and engineering programs.”

The Community College System several years ago created a curriculum called the College of Technology. The COT provides a seamless way for students to get two-year degrees in engineering or technology and then pursue a four-year degree in those areas at one of six colleges and universities in Connecticut.

Within the COT, the state has just created a Regional Center for Next Generation Manufacturing, using an advanced technology education grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF). The Regional Center is a curriculum driven by the needs of “next generation” industries. It will educate skilled workers in areas such as fuel cells, lasers, “green” engineering, nanotechnology and biomedical applications.

Karen Wosczyna-Birch, state director of the COT, says, “We realized it was important to respond to industry and workforce needs. Next-generation manufacturing requires a whole new set of skills, more sophisticated, higher-level skills” — for example, in information technology and computer applications, lasers and CAD (computer aided design).

The Regional Center involves a collaboration between the community colleges, six four-year colleges, the technical high schools, the Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology, and industry.

“We want to offer the right courses to prepare students for the workforce. Some of the classes will have a hybrid approach: the theoretical information will be online, but the lab portion will be on-site at one of the schools,” says Wosczyna-Birch.

CBIA, the Regional Center’s “industry partner,” is helping to market the program by conducting a four-year, next-generation manufacturing careers campaign. The campaign includes a brochure, a Web site, a next-generation manufacturing CD-ROM, 30-second TV spots on stations watched by 18- to 26-year-olds, radio spots, Internet banners, and links to the National Association of Manufacturers’ “Dream it! Do it!” campaign. The marketing efforts are being funded with a grant from the NSF and matching grants from various public and private groups.*

CBIA is also helping the Regional Center with professional development for teachers by arranging summer externships for them at various manufacturing locations around the state.

Major changes are under way in the technical high schools, too, many of them based on recommendations of the Governor’s Task Force on the Future of the Regional Technical High School System. The schools’ superintendent, Abigail L. Hughes, says, “We have implemented a standardized curriculum across all schools in the trade and manufacturing technology areas. We are also implementing statewide curriculum standards for science, math and English. Students particularly need skills in these subject areas for careers in manufacturing. Next year, we’ll do this for all the other subject areas.”

The curriculum upgrades, she says, will take two to four years to complete. New professional development activities will be ongoing.

* Matching funds come from the Department of Economic and Community Development, United Illuminating, Northeast Utilities, Blum Shapiro, Capital Workforce Partners, the New Haven Manufacturers Association, and the Smaller Manufacturers Association of Connecticut.