Responding to workforce needs

Universities, technical schools create programs to fill region’s workforce gap

BY KAYLA PRASEK

Minnesota State Community and Technical College created a mobile welding trailer to help fill the state’s workforce training needs. The trailer travels around the state, taking M State’s welding education to students. PHOTO: M STATE

In nearly every corner of the Northern Plains, there is a workforce shortage, and the region’s institutions of higher education are doing what they can to fill that need. From alternative routes to degrees, additional training and initiatives, higher ed is trying to step in and collaborate with industry.

The University of Mary in Bismarck, N.D., is helping address the region’s workforce shortage with its new Year-Round Campus program. Students enrolled in the program can earn their bachelor’s degrees in 2.6 years. “This is an opportunity to re-think how a university education is delivered, especially with the rising costs, rising debt load and rising length of completion facing our students,” says Michael McMahon, assistant vice president for enrollment services. “Interest in the program is incredible. We’re providing businesses with people faster, but they’re the type of people employers want. The students in this program have the drive and determination to be done quickly.”

Year-Round Campus started this fall with about 100 freshmen expressing interest. Students will focus on courses in their majors during the fall and spring semesters and will take general liberal arts courses in the summer semesters. “The summer semesters will still give them a robust campus experience,” McMahon says. “Campus will still work as usual, but we will make sure there’s flexibility in the summer.” University of Mary officials tout the program as saving students money, while also increasing their lifetime earnings by entering the workforce sooner.

In Sioux Falls, S.D., University Center brings the state’s six public universities under one roof. “Our primary audience is placebound students who want to go to college or finish a degree, but can’t move and don’t want to do online courses,” says Craig Johnson, executive director. “We provide a site so courses can be completed in person.”

University Center was established as a way to connect public higher education with Sioux Falls and help spur economic development in the area. “We want to do everything we can to provide individuals with the capacity for success and for employers to build the skills of their workforce and have access to the workforce,” Johnson says.

During the recent recession, University Center saw an increase in students as people went back to school. Now, “we’re repositioning ourselves and finding our place in the local job market to provide a new set of offerings,” Johnson says. “We’re working closely with employers to revise the ways we deliver programs. We offer entry and access to education that could lead all the way to a doctorate.”

On the opposite end, Bismarck State College in Bismarck, N.D., has the programs necessary to address the state’s workforce shortage but not the students, says Drake Carter, provost and vice president for academic and student affairs. “We market as best we can and attend job fairs to recruit students and to match students to employers,” Carter says. “We try to direct students toward the industries that are most in need, and our advisers and counselors work with the testing center to help match students with the best kinds of programs for them.”

Mitchell Technical Institute in Mitchell, S.D., has developed a workforce recruitment program to help solve this problem. “It is a program where a company underwrites a portion of a student’s tuition in return for at least two years of employment at the company by the student,” says Mark Gerhardt, vice president of industry relations and development. Gerhardt says the companies either recruit students or choose from MTI’s student body. Any program in any industry is eligible to be part of the workforce recruitment program.

MTI currently has eight programs with an industry sponsor, with the most popular programs to sponsor being welding and manufacturing technology, architectural design and building construction, electrical construction and maintenance and telecommunications.

“A lot of companies fund scholarships, which we appreciate, but they aren’t guaranteed any payback,” Gerhardt says. “This is a tool to ensure a company gets something for their financial contribution.”

Gerhardt says the program is proving to be “very effective. The earliest companies who have gone through the cycle have ramped it up this year, which speaks to the success and value of the program.”

In the Bakken

University of Mary has added an engineering program, which will be available to students starting in fall 2016, in response to student and industry demand. “It is our most common program request from students and the most common business request from the industry,” says Terry Pilling, assistant professor of mathematics, physics and engineering. “We’re close to where engineers are needed, particularly in the Bakken.”

The program will be offered in collaboration with the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks for any courses students can’t take at Mary. However, the entire degree would be able to be completed on the Mary campus, with the exception of traveling to UND for intensive summer labs.

“We want homegrown engineers who stay in the state,” says David Fleischacker, dean of the School of Arts and Sciences. “Having this program will hopefully keep them here. We also want them to be as successful as possible, so they aren’t just technically capable, but they have the liberal arts background so they understand people and can collaborate with their partners.”

Mark Hagerott, North Dakota University System chancellor, has recognized the need to retain the thousands of workers who have moved to North Dakota during the oil boom, and has introduced Bakken U to encourage oil workers to go back to school.

“People are moving out rapidly due to layoffs,” Hagerott says. “We realized we needed to explain there are opportunities for two- and four-year degrees, as well as technical degrees, within an hour of where they are working.”

Right now, in its first phase, Bakken U is an information campaign promoting Williston State, Dickinson State, Minot State, Bismarck State and Dakota College at Bottineau. Hagerott envisions a second phase including scholarships and a “financial bridge” for oil workers and a third phase including an energy program with certification and the opportunity to continue with additional education. “We want North Dakota to become a place for energy workers to stay,” he says. “We want to help meet the workforce needs of the oil industry down the line but also fill the needs of other industries with the right training.”

University of Mary has also increased its presence in the Bakken, setting up an office in Watford City, N.D., to help meet the workforce needs “in that challenging area,” McMahon says. Mary is working with the businesses in that area to help grow and retain the workforce, says Rachael Brash, director of graduate admissions. “We’re here to help them. We understand the business aspects, which is attractive to these businesses.” Graduate programs go year-round, with classes once a week in the evening.

Workforce Training

In 2013, Minnesota West Community and Technical College, which has locations in Detroit Lakes, Fergus Falls, Moorhead and Wadena, created a mobile welding trailer, which travels around the college’s 19-county region. It features 12 welding workstations and can be used year-round. “We decided we need to take education to the students,” says G.L. Tucker, dean of custom training services. “There are a lot of reasons kids aren’t going to college, and we serve a large geographical area. For businesses, it’s more economical to take the training to them.”

Now, thanks to the success of the welding trailer, M State is creating three more trailers — Commercial Driver’s License, construction and safety training and precision measurement. “Any time we can get these labs out, the better we’re serving students that may not be served,” Tucker says. “We can help provide them with a specific skill.”

M State partners with a variety of businesses and organizations to provide 16-160 hours of training. “It depends what we’re doing, but we can provide 160 hours for people who have never welded or 16 hours for additional or specific welding skills,” Tucker says. “We will work with the business to design custom curriculum to fit their needs.”

Tucker says it’s part of M State’s mission to ensure students and workers in the region have the skills necessary to be successful. “For us, it’s about making sure they can get jobs, but we’re also a conduit to providing skills industry needs. We also see it as a place to provide additional skills to those already working.”

In North Dakota, TrainND was established in 1999 to be the state’s “most comprehensive and inclusive training network,” says Patty Kline, director of TrainND Southeast, located at North Dakota State College of Science in Wahpeton. TrainND also has locations at Lake Region State College in Devils Lake, Williston State College in Williston and Bismarck State College in Bismarck.

In the southeast region, TrainND’s mission is “to provide timely, flexible, innovative, dependable training,” Kline says. “We will provide training at their site, our site or a neutral site.” TrainND Southeast is “actively working on new programs” in response to the region’s workforce needs, Kline says. That includes robotic manufacturing and hydraulic maintenance programs and increasing its CDL training. TrainND also recently launched an on-demand learning program, with more than 800 short video courses that can be completed anywhere and provide technical skills.

“North Dakota needs a highly-trained workforce,” Kline says. “We continue to expand our services and are continually working on new offerings to meet their gaps.”

In TrainND’s southwest region, there is a strong emphasis on training as the oil boom slows down, says Carla Hixson, associate vice president for continuing education, training and innovation at Bismarck State College. “One of the challenges when there’s a large influx of workers is that they didn’t have time to do training,” Hixson says. “Those workers received the bare minimum training. Now, employers are looking at their employees to see how they can enhance their skills. The trend now is how they can upgrade their employees’ skills.” PB

Kayla Prasek Staff Writer Prairie Business 701-780-1187, kprasek@prairiebizmag.com