Last week I was the convocation speaker at Danville Community College (DCC), Danville, VA. One is the Virginia system of 22 colleges, DCC serves the geographic area of Danville City and the counties of Pittsylvania and Halifax. It like its 1200 other brother and sister community colleges around the country are meeting a vital need in our educational system. There are 11.6 million students attending community colleges in the United states--6.5 million for credit and 5 million for non-credit. What does that mean? Fifty percent of all new nurses and a majority of health care providers are educated by community colleges to name only one field. Businesses are turning more and more to community colleges for workforce preparation. That is often where the non-credit students participate. Many are pursuing non-degree or certificate programs in everything from computer-assisted design to heating and air conditioning repair. Community colleges are often the lifelong learning route for people who want to return to school.
Danville Community College is particularly interesting because of its cutting edge work in workforce development. Its state-of-the-art Regional Center for Advanced Technology & Training is a remarkable facility. With the acquistion of its Selective Laser Sintering capability, it became the only community college in the country to offer this level of product development support to client industries. As Danville and surrounding counties reposition themselves in the global economy from textiles and tobacco, the community college and the collaborative Institute for Advanced Learning and Research are leading the way.
Over the coming weeks I will be profiling communities that are being proactive about their future--not just preparing people for the jobs we know about now but new jobs that will come with changes and advances in technology. That is where community colleges are so critical--that can literally change the future of our workforce by preparation, but as important, and by working with industry to determine the needs of the future.
Comments