Businesses can support higher education in its time of need in one important way.
“Companies need to invest in higher education, and they can do that and upgrade their workers’ skills at the same time by spending their training dollars at nearby colleges and universities,” said Joyce L. Gioia, one of the authors of the new book, “Impending Crisis: Too Many Jobs, Too Few People.”
That includes businesses thinking of expanding to new sites, said Albert A. Vicere, executive education professor of strategic leadership at Penn State University’s Smeal College of Business.
“I would encourage executives contemplating an expansion or relocation to meet with the dean of the business school that’s near the site under consideration,” he said. “Every business needs some help in developing its people and their skills, and the business school can map out a plan of action, build a curriculum and deliver with a purpose.”
Phoenix International, an operating group within Deere & Co., has grown and prospered through its relationship with North Dakota State University. Phoenix International, which employs about 400 workers, manufactures electronic parts and systems for use in John Deere equipment.
Phoenix International has been a tenant in the NDSU Research and Technology Park in Fargo since 1999.
“Our interaction with the university has resulted in us being a more profitable, more vibrant company, and it has resulted in NDSU being able to turn out better graduates by virtue of their interaction with real businesses,” said Barry Batcheller, one of the founders of Phoenix International.
Some of the ways the two organizations work together include:
* NDSU faculty use Phoenix International facilities as education tools.
* Phoenix International staff teaches classes at NDSU.
* Phoenix International workers take advanced classes at NDSU, as well as computer skills classes offered at a nearby skills and technology training center under the auspices of North Dakota State College.
Worker training is key, said Tony Grindberg, executive director of the NDSU Research & Technology Park.
“The thinking went like this: If skill levels of workers increased and they became more valuable to their organizations, their wages would grow, hence our tax base would grow,” Grindberg said. “The model has worked well.”
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