Op-Ed: UAA’s CTC, Industry Partners Build Alaska’s Workforce

In UAA’s CTC, most of the programs require hands-on education. To ensure our students have access to the highest quality training, we work with local industry and a number of generous individual donors who provide us equipment for training purposes. Where possible, we are also finding ways to deliver training to rural areas. Recently, we received a charitable grant to purchase portable welding simulators, allowing us to partner with our regional campuses to offer welding training in remote regions of Southcentral Alaska.

Our faculty represent a diverse mix of backgrounds, most have years of industry experience in addition to one or more academic degrees. Many hold nationally recognized certifications. For example, our faculty in automotive technology are all Automotive Service Excellence (ASE) Certified Master Mechanics.

Our current projects focus on helping Alaska expand opportunities for apprenticeship. With support from Technical Vocational Education Program (TVEP) funding and a national grant, we recently received approval to serve as a sponsor of Registered Apprenticeship, a program of the United States Department of Labor. Registered Apprenticeship is an “earn-and-learn” approach, making it possible for UAA CTC to partner with employers to provide classroom training and oversight, while the employer provides on-the-job training, salary and benefits. In other cases, we align, verify, and provide academic credit for training delivered by industry.

The apprenticeship model allows us to collaborate, rather than compete, with industry and training partners on a relatively small scale, one that can work even in lower population areas. At this time, we work closely with numerous small and medium-sized businesses, such as automotive dealers and restaurants, to extend the benefits of apprenticeship to them and their employees.

We are also working closely with colleagues from UAF and UAS. In many of these career fields, the training received at any of our campuses statewide is aligned so students can take a few classes or a certificate on one campus, use those credits toward completing an associate at another, and finish with our fully online Bachelor of Science in applied technologies leadership program. This is another way students can experience our “earn-and-learn” model.

Reducing the time and cost to earn a credential, while expanding the overall opportunities for Alaskans to earn certificates and degrees, results in overall cost reduction without sacrificing quality. UAA CTC aims to build Alaska’s workforce and foster student success through quality education and technical training. But we cannot do this alone. We are grateful to all of our partners and welcome new opportunities to collaborate.