H. Martin Lancaster, President
North Carolina Community College System
Global Transpark Education And Training Center
Kinston, NC
March 2, 2001
Thank you. I think it is especially fitting to be here today at the Global Transpark to talk to you briefly about workforce development and training initiatives to support technology development in Eastern North Carolina and the Global Transpark Region. Why? Because globalization and technology, the key factors driving the economic prosperity of any region, greatly depend on workforce development initiatives for success.
It is trite today to say that we live in a global economy, but we often do not fully realize how quickly the pace of globalization is occurring. In 1970, imports and exports accounted for 11 percent of the American economy. Today they account for over 25%, and cross border mergers and acquisitions increased by 27.5% in 1999 alone. McKinsey & Company consultants estimate that over 50% of the world’s economy is globally contestable, an increase of over 500% increase since 1995. (By the way, next Monday our System will sponsor a Statewide Global Education Conference for all 58 of our colleges, sponsored by the Stanley Foundation, to better help community colleges understand and plan for the global economy).
What this all means is that technology and capital flow across borders at a rate that was not imaginable just five years ago. Where does it flow? It flows to those areas that have skilled qualified workers, the number one factor in global technology locations according to a recent study reported in The Wall Street Journal
The majority of this change is caused by revolutions we are seeing on almost a daily basis in science and technology development. We see these revolutions in the mapping of the human genome in biotechnology, and the growth of demand for bandwidth and telecommunications at a pace we could not have imagined just a few years ago. Last year for the first time, phone lines carried more data traffic than voice traffic. Experts suggest that human voices may account for less than 2% of traffic over the telecommunications infrastructure as early as the year 2003.
What do these changes mean to us here in North Carolina and at the Global Transpark? They can mean opportunity, assuming we have the physical and the human infrastructure in place. Dr. Hamner may have told you this morning that we sit at the point where employment in North Carolina biotechnology companies can increase exponentially as the technology moves from the labs to the production lines, many of which are already currently located here in Eastern North Carolina. The opportunities in information technology seem almost limitless, with national job growth expected to increase by 1.6 million over the next 12 years, but job vacancies of up to 50% expected as a result of national information technology labor shortages. And while we are losing traditional manufacturing jobs at a record national pace, we simultaneously see expanding opportunities in high-tech manufacturing across the state -- in metals, plastics, electronics, and even high-tech textile facilities -- where trained technicians work with computers and automated equipment to produce composites, fiber optics and telecommunications equipment and other products made possible through advances in science and technology.
Similar to the situation we faced 40 years ago when the community college system started and North Carolina transitioned from an agricultural to an industrial state, the prosperity we can expect from the new economy will ultimately depend on the capability of North Carolinians to perform these jobs. That means science and technology-based workforce preparedness for our young people, but just as important, technology retraining opportunities for our adults. Eighty percent of the workforce of ten years from now is already employed today. To reap the benefits of the new technologies and the new economy, there must be opportunities for adults to obtain the highest quality training and retraining in the most accessible way. That is why I am not alone in the belief that community colleges may be the most important institutions in Eastern North Carolina in determining whether this region can reap the economic rewards of today's and tomorrow's innovations.
To do so requires -- it demands -- that we be innovators ourselves in the delivery of education and training. Fortunately for us, pioneering State leaders gave us the mandate to make economic and workforce development a top priority, and the flexibility and local autonomy at our institutions to fulfill that mandate. This put us many years ahead of our competitor states, even though they are quickly filling the gap. And it is for this reason, that we see innovative new programs developing on an almost monthly basis in areas such as electronic commerce, global positioning systems, and here in Kinston at Lenoir Community College, in global logistics. In fact, the global logistics program, the only program of its type in the nation that I am aware of, was designed in partnership with the Kenan Center at UNC Chapel-Hill, and will be offered here in this wonderful high technology training facility. How can a program offered in a facility such as this, not be a magnet to the technology-based industrial growth we all expect here at the Global Transpark.
Our mandate as the designated State agency for workforce development and customized training also puts our System in contact with the leading North Carolina technology companies, for whom we provide training through our New and Expanding Industry Training and workforce continuing education. Currently, we have a record activity level with 250 New and Expanding Industry projects throughout the State. More and more, they are with high tech leaders such as current projects with Cisco Systems, Cree, Corning, Digital Optics, RF Microdevices, and biotechnology/pharmaceutical leaders such as Biogen, Bayer, Catalytica, and Eon Pharmaceuticals.
Some of these companies, particularly some of the pharmaceutical companies, are located in this region, but we are all here today because we believe that Eastern North Carolina badly needs more science and technology-based jobs. To gain these jobs, all surveys and anecdotal evidence suggests, that we must do more to give Eastern North Carolinians the technology skills these companies demand if they are to locate here.
Not that we are not already doing a lot. For example, last year approximately 180,000 people received information technology training at North Carolina community colleges, with over 22,000 completing the requirements for IT industry certifications. In our workforce continuing education area alone, enrollment in IT training is the fastest growth area by far, having increased 41% in just the past two years.
But it is not enough to do more. We have to be smarter as well and partner more closely with our industry partners than ever before. Within the past two years, we have initiated significant partnerships with both the North Carolina Electronics and Information Technology Association, and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center.
Our partnership with the North Carolina Biotechnology Center is formalized in the form of the Partnership for Biotechnology Workforce Training, and is already producing significant results. Together we have developed a truly unique biotechnology-training program called BioWork, that provides concentrated short-term training for new high-tech process technicians. We believe it will be the only program of its type in the nation. The program has been piloted at Vance-Granville Community College with the outstanding company, Novozymes, and is also being provided as part of New and Expanding Industry Training with Biogen and Bayer. In April, Vance-Granville Community College will offer the first open-enrollment BioWork program. Last week, they advertised it, and within two days 40 people had enrolled filling up the first class. In just a few months we will offer the first train-the-trainer program for other community colleges so that every college in the State can have the capability of providing this program.
Through our partnership with the Biotechnology Center, we also are sponsoring and funding the first annual "Keys to Quality" workshop series for biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies, providing leading training in Good Manufacturing Practices and technical report writing to twenty North Carolina-based biotechnology companies. Our system is the only community college system in the nation with a partnership with the GMP Institute, a leading pharmaceutical training provider, that is one of the lead training partners in this initiatives. The program has been offered on seven community college campuses, including Pitt Community College and Wilson Technical Community College in this area.
In information technology, we enjoy a wonderful partnership with NCEITA and Joan Myers, and are forging ahead with many new initiatives to enhance IT training throughout the State. Our efforts include close collaboration with ExplorNet, the innovative non-profit that works closely with the public schools on information technology training, so that we insure a seamless transition in training from public schools to community colleges. Our colleges in the Charlotte-region, through the Charlotte Regional Information Technology Collaborative, have been national leaders in assisting with the development of the new national information technology skill standards and assessments, developed by a National Science Foundation-funded Center for Emerging Technologies in Washington. We are already supporting development for training materials based on these new skill standards and assessments, that will eventually be disseminated throughout the State when completed, giving community colleges here in Eastern North Carolina and other areas of the state a significant head start. We are also supporting new efforts in electronic commerce training, and are working on ideas and plans for offering more accelerated training opportunities.
For manufacturing, an area where companies must be technology-focused if they are to be viable in North Carolina, we have developed an innovative new training program called the North Carolina Manufacturing Certification Program, that has garnered the recommendation of the National Association of Manufacturers' Center for Workforce Success. Based on industry skill standards, the program offers individuals an opportunity to gain recognized industry skill certifications in a concentrated period of time, and was developed through the collective contributions of college staff throughout the State, including Pitt Community College, Lenoir Community College, Southeastern Community College, and Robeson Community College in Eastern North Carolina. The program has been developed with significant industry involvement, and as an example, over 70 electronics manufacturers in the State have given feed back to the Level II electronics program. Short-term skill certification training is one of the fastest growing areas of all higher education, with the National Alliance of Business indicating a 130% increase in skill certifications awarded through colleges and universities since 1990. As this program is taking off in areas such as at Nash Community College in this region, we think we are clearly on to something and that these types of programs, whether they be the BioWork program or the Manufacturing Certification Program, can eventually serve as a feeder for many individuals to enter our curriculum programs.
As innovations to support technology-based workforce development spring up in this region and throughout the state, it is important that we do everything we can to make sure we have the technology and educational infrastructure necessary to bring these jobs to Eastern North Carolina. Otherwise, we will just be training our folks to take jobs in RTP, Charlotte, and other prosperous areas of North Carolina and the rest of the nation.
As a former U.S. Congressman for this area and former head of the Army Corps of Engineers, I am proud of the few contributions I was able to make to the development of the Global Transpark. As President of the North Carolina Community College System, I was extremely honored to serve as Chair of the Workforce Committees for both the Rural Prosperity Task Force and the Vision 2030 Science and Technology Initiative. As President of our System and citizen of this State, I am saddened, however, that we find ourselves without the resources to do many of the things that we know must take place to achieve our vision for science and technology in Eastern North Carolina.
If you will pardon the plug, one of the things that absolutely must happen, as you know Representative Tolson, is that we must significantly raise our community college faculty and staff salaries so that we are not at the bottom in the nation in the salaries we pay. Progress on that front we know will not be easy this year, but we can make a multi-year commitment to do more. Another thing that can be done that will be vitally important to science and technology development in this area is the extension of House Bill 275, a redistribution of unemployment insurance funds to community colleges. Through this funding source, community colleges now receive 3/4 of their technology and equipment funds, and half of the funds for customized training for new and expanding industries and retraining initiatives, so you can imagine the negative impact should that funding go away.
I believe we have the vision and plan, and with the Global Transpark, Rural Internet Access Authority, Rural Economic Opportunity Fund, we have a great start toward the infrastructure and resources that we need here in Eastern North Carolina to bring the rewards of the new economy back to the area of the State that you and I call home. Will we have the commitment to finish the task at hand, until the day that we see technology companies sprouting up in the surrounding agricultural fields where many of us spent countless hot afternoons topping and suckering in our youth.
In that regard, I want to conclude with a quote from Governor Terry Sanford that he made in his State of the State address back in 1963, when he challenged the North Carolina General Assembly to create the North Carolina Community College System. People then were questioning whether investments in community colleges and the Research Triangle Park were just a waste of money, just as some today question our commitment to the Global Transpark, rural internet access, and stronger education initiatives here in Eastern North Carolina. Listen to his words, for I think they express the sense of urgency with which we all must leave here today, even though they were said almost 40 years ago:
"You will hear some whisperings abroad saying that we have done enough, have moved well and far and rapidly, and so it is time now to slow down, rest, and catch our breath.
These whispers come from the fearful and those who have always opposed the accomplishments from which they now would rest. This cannot be and is not the spirit of North Carolina.
Much remains to be done, to provide better educational opportunities for the competition our children will surely face, to encourage broader economic development so everybody will have a better chance to make a better living. Now is the time to move forward. Now is no time to loaf along."
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