PORT ANGELES — Community colleges are uniquely prepared to create workers with the skills employers need, Peninsula College President Luke Robins told about 80 members at the Port Angeles Regional Chamber of Commerce earlier this week.
Robins also said when he spoke at Monday’s luncheon at the Red Lion Hotel that the face of community college funding is changing, and within a few years, it won’t be recognizable.
The cost burden for tuition increasingly is shifting to the student, with less public funding per student, yet the educational need for job training and college preparation are similarly at a historic high, Robins said.
Most jobs — as many as 60 percent — that are being created require workers with more than a high school education but less than a four-year degree, he said.
Unique niche
Robins pointed out that community colleges already are set up for that unique niche and offer job training certificates and two-year degrees, in addition to the transfer programs that prepare students to enter four-year colleges.
Community colleges have the flexibility to quickly adjust to employers’ needs, Robins said.
Robins told the group that the college plans to hold a series of meetings with representatives from “industry clusters” that exist in the North Olympic Peninsula, such as the health care community or the composites industry.
Peninsula College hopes to learn what kind of educational programs each type of employer needs for its workers and to prepare prospective future employees and create programs based on those needs, he said.
________
Reporter Arwyn Rice can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5070, or at arwyn.rice@peninsuladailynews.com.
