Job Skills Gap Growing,
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Dr. Peter Boyse, Delta College president, peers into the educational future.
By 2006 there will be 151 million jobs available in the United States.
But there will be only 141 million people qualified to fill those jobs.
That's the report from the front lines of education, from Dr. Peter Boyse, president of Delta College, the community college serving the tri-counties of Bay, Midland and Saginaw.
What is the problem? "There just aren't the people who have the skills that business and industry need," said Dr. Boyse.
"There is more pressure from business and industry for education and training," said Dr. Boyse, "and more partnerships between higher education and the private sector."
The K-12 system is clinging to the Goals 2000 statement that 100 percent of students will graduate high school," said Dr. Boyse, commenting: "Although the K-12 system has been given the responsibility of "raising the children, it does not have the authority to do it." (Michigan Department of Education statistics show that about three of four students who enter high school graduate on time, indicating a 25 percent drop out rate. Bay and Saginaw counties are above the state average in dropouts, while Midland statistics are somewhat better.)
These developing factors fuel a tremendous market for adult learning, one which has seen private firms like Apollo Corporation, which runs the on-line University of Phoenix and other educational programs, to be one of the fastest growing companies on the U.S. stock market. Apollo is up 31 percent in revenue,43 percent in net income and 63 percent in stock price, said Dr. Boyse. The University of Phoenix alone has 150,000 students enrolled.
In the past eight years private post-secondary education has grown from annual revenues of $117 million to more than $2 billion, he said.
The number of adult learners has grown from 58 million to about 90 million during that time, in part because industries have mandated that their employees upgrade themselves. By contrast, during the same period traditional college and university enrollments have grown only from 14 million to 15 million.
One phenomenon which has occurred is that during the recent economic downturn training budgets have not been cut as drastically as they were in previous slow economic periods. "The reason is that employers are requiring that their employees be kept current in job technologies," said the Delta president.
One dilemma facing higher education is that colleges are more occupational focused while employers want the skills that come from liberal arts programs, said Dr. Boyse. Those skills include communications, understanding technology, working in teams and having a good work ethic. "I expect that general education will make a comeback," he commented.
Dr. Boyse expects an increasing focus on adults and seniors. "Higher education will become the norm as high school did in the 20th century," he said.
Another trend is that the nation is moving to education based on competency and skill masteryrather than seat time. "Achievement is based on the ability of the student to move forward," he said.
A good example is credentialing in the Information Technology (IT) field. Dr. Boyse summarized: "It is an international guild, there is no governmental control, it is student centered and competency based and is not controlled by traditional higher education."
Some of the new occupational fields which are challenging educational systems to provide training for include artificial intelligence technician, aquaculture specialist, fuel cell technician, bionic medicine specialist, fusion engineer, leisure technician and space mechanic.
The state, and Delta College, are moving with the trends. The state is building 18 technical education centers. Delta has a new technical education training center under construction and operates a workforce development center, Corporate Services which training industry personnel and 70 occupational programs.
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