This attentiveness to industry-identified problems is typical of the educational leadership ATE Centers have shown since Congress created the ATE program in 1992 and the first grants were made in 1994.
The Maricopa Advanced Technological Education Center (MATEC) helped the semiconductor industry in the late 1990s avert a critical shortage of technicians, according to Dave Ferrell, director of Workforce Strategies for the Semiconductor Industry Association. The coalition MATEC built is an active conduit for communication between semiconductor companies and community colleges around the country. “It is a fabulous framework to get the skills in the workforce we need,” Ferrell said, adding that the advanced preparation of technicians that results from such innovations is “invaluable.”
By establishing a solid curriculum based on industry standards, the Center for the Advancement of Process Technology (CAPT) has addressed the process technology industry’s need for qualified technicians to replace retiring workers. Because of CAPT’s efforts many companies now consider an associate degree the minimum education requirement for entry-level process technicians. The curriculum the Center created with industries in the Gulf Coast states has been adapted and is constantly updated for use among partner institutions and industry alliances around the country.
BP has found the CAPT partnership so successful that it uses it as a pattern for its interactions with other community colleges across all of its product streams. “BP has confidence in the assurance of the quality of the [process technology] graduates,” said Johnny H. Payne, BP operations technical manager for the Western Hemisphere. Payne says BP almost immediately saves money with reduced in-house training expenses and improved safety by hiring process-technician graduates. “We have a 37 percent better safety record with these people compared with people who don’t have these credentials,” he said.
The Centers also address the needs of their communities. In San Francisco, The National Advanced Technological Education Center for Excellence in Biotechnology (Bio-Link) created the Bridge to Biotech and On-Ramp to Biotech programs to provide the instruction poor and minority residents need to gain the math, English and science skills they need for entry into this new field and its high-wage jobs. In the aftermath of the September 11th terrorist attacks, the Center for Systems Security and Information Assurance (CSSIA) was created to coordinate the development of curricula to meet the demand for well-prepared cyber-security technicians.
