business backgrounder | education & workforce
Workforce Training Partnerships on the Upswing
Local colleges, businesses collaborating to add
student skills and fill economic needs.
Holly Smith Peterson
Employers and job-seekers alike are discovering the benefits of workforce training partnerships
offered throughout the state at Washington’s community and technical colleges.
at a glance
Students from Washington State University come to Everett Community College’s Aerospace
& Advanced Manufacturing School to receive full-scale training in manufacturing processes.
This team created decorative WSU end pieces for an automobile.
Every year in Washington state more than 400,000 students attend classes at 34 local
community and technical colleges. The schools prepare students to transfer into a four-year
college or university, earn a better-paying position in their current company, or transition
into high-demand regional jobs.
Such a large number of students is evidence of the growing reliance on community
and technical colleges to help employers fill gaps in their workforces. Given the lingering
budget challenges of the recession, employers are looking for a skilled, experienced
workforce to add into the mix when they’re expanding, restructuring, or creating new
products and services.
Community and technical colleges, for their part, want to help their highly-trained and
experienced students find real-world job success, as well as to help local businesses grow.
Seeing this opportunity to match students who have skills and knowledge with the need
to fill high-demand jobs, the State Board for Community & Technical Colleges (SBCTC) is
facilitating partnerships between their network of educational hubs and regional businesses.
One such endeavor is the Job Skills Program, which this past year garnered $2.7 million in
funding for awards ranging from $5,000 to $244,000 toward such partnerships.
“The colleges work with the corporations to put together a very tailored plan to address
their immediate needs,” said Anna Nikolaeva, program administrator for Job Skills and
Customized Training at SBCTC. “Workforce training is the part of the college that is able to
be very responsive to the different industries.”
Each year in Washington state more
than 400,000 students attend
classes at 34 local community and
technical colleges.
Commu