Changing Role of Community Colleges Redefining the S&T Workforce

Community colleges can play an important part in shaping the workforce in the science and technology (S&T) sector. For example, with the growth in biotech, there is an increasing need for technicians in the biotech field and workers are finding that they can prepare for these jobs rather quickly in community colleges. Technicians in biotech manufacturing facilities generally have two-year specialized training or an associate degree from a technical or community college, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. With overall employment expected to increase, particularly in biotech, the field is attracting more displaced workers.

North Carolina community colleges are embracing this new role as they prepare for the development of six new biotech centers to be hosted within the state’s community colleges. Earlier this month, the North Carolina State Board of Community Colleges accepted recommendations to distribute $4.4 million in grant awards to the centers.

According to the North Carolina Community College System, all of the centers will help develop expertise, curricula and specialized training within their field of responsibility and share it statewide with the community college system, thereby creating a cost-effective, efficient way of developing workforce training. The decision from the State Board to distribute the grant awards to the biotech centers has been passed on to Golden LEAF, the foundation funding the initiative, for final approval on June 3.

States across the country are experiencing growth in community college enrollment, according to a recent report from the National Science Foundation (NSF), The Role of Community Colleges in the Education of Recent Science and Engineering Graduates. The report looks at the role of community colleges in the educational experiences of science and engineering (S&E) degree recipients and how that role differs among subgroups within the U.S. population. Full and part-time enrollment at community colleges nationwide has risen 13.5 percent between 1990-2000, the data show, and more than 40 percent of recent S&E graduates have attended community college at some point in their educational paths.

Categories including field and level of degree, race or ethnicity, age, marital status and family, parent’s education and high school geographic division are examined in the report. Results indicate that Hispanics and married women with children living in the household attend community college at a greater proportion than any other category.

The Role of Community Colleges in the Education of Recent Science and Engineering Graduates is available at: http://www.nsf.gov/sbe/srs/infbrief/nsf04315/start.htm