As the use of robotics continues to emerge in the Ozarks, training for skilled workers is falling behind.
“There are opportunities out there, when it comes down to students that need to know computers, how programming works, maybe a little robotics, a little website [design],” said Tiffany Ford, computer information science department chairwoman at Ozarks Technical Community College.
OTC offers classes including robotics engineering as a complement to its traditional computer courses, but such training is becoming a rare commodity among Springfield’s academic institutions. Ford said Drury University is almost completely eliminating its CIS degree, and Missouri State University is shifting away from programming and toward business analytics, creating a gap in the local skilled workforce.
“I now have 270 [CIS] majors,” she said. “That’s up 240 percent from a few years ago. Employer demand is to the point where I don’t feel like we can produce them fast enough. Most companies prefer candidates with a bachelor’s degree, but if things keep trending this way, students won’t be able to get that level of training. Employers may have to settle for a two-year degree.”
That gap is not exclusive to the Ozarks. The 2013 Talent Shortage survey by Milwaukee-based ManpowerGroup highlighted a growing worldwide need for skilled labor, a counterintuitive notion in an era of widespread unemployment. The study found more than one-third of 38,000 companies in 41 countries were unable to find the skilled workers they need, while in America, 40 percent of all U.S. employers were having difficulty filling jobs.
The annual survey also ranks the 10 hardest positions for employers to fill. In 2013, 40 percent of the jobs on that list – information technology, accounting and finance, engineers and technicians – were in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math, commonly called STEM fields.
In Missouri, a consortium of community colleges is taking part in a protracted effort to study and bolster the success of STEM field students. Dubbed the Missouri Pre-STEM Pathways program, the multifaceted effort has been in place since 2004 at Kansas City’s Metropolitan Community College, central Missouri’s Moberly Area Community Colleges, St. Charles Community College and Truman State University in Kirskville.
It has been an uphill battle. Last year, the consortium reported two-year transfer students in STEM fields often required an additional three years of coursework to complete their bachelors’ degree, mainly due to insufficient math preparation.[[In-content Ad]]
