President Bush appeared before the convention to continue his ongoing emphasis on community colleges and their role in today’s economy. He cited the two North Carolina community colleges as playing important and innovative roles in bringing the economy around and providing enhanced access to education resources.

"The problem we face in the short-term in America is some workers do not have the skills necessary to fill the new jobs," said the president. He said community colleges give individuals the skills needed during this "economic transition." He commended Forsyth Tech for training displaced workers for new jobs.

"I was in Forsyth County Community College in North Carolina where former textile workers are now getting the skills to work in biotechnology," said the president. Mr. Bush said work displacement money is important for economic turnaround, but direct response when there are layoffs is the key. "The most important thing that happened was that the community college administrators went to the local employers and said, what do you need?" Mr. Bush saw first-hand that the college is meeting the needs of employers when he visited the college last November.

The president also emphasized the importance of broadband technology for information access and education application. He praised Central Piedmont Community College for using broadband to conduct classes for students all across North Carolina. Mr. Bush visited CPCC earlier this month.

"One of the interesting opportunities for the community college system is to provide education opportunities for people who work out of their home," he said. "And the expansion of broadband technology will mean education literally will head into the living rooms of students. That will even make the system more flexible and more available and more affordable."

Central Piedmont is not alone in providing courses over the Internet. The North Carolina Community College System provides hundreds of courses via the Virtual Learning Community. This catalog of on-line courses has flourished over the past few years and on-line course enrollment has grown exponentially. Several community colleges, like Central Piedmont, have developed their own courses and have liberally used computer-based classes to provide better access to education for their students.

-NCCCS-

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