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SALT LAKE CITY — Invariably, when presidents of Utah’s dual-mission universities meet with the business community, the conversation turns to workforce needs.
“I can’t go out in our community without having employers talk to me to say that same thing, workforce, workforce, workforce. What can you do to help us?” said Weber State University President Brad Mortensen.
This is especially true at Hill Air Force Base.
“I have had more than one general put his finger in my chest saying ‘We need more engineering, computer science graduates and we need them now,’” Mortensen said, speaking Wednesday at a Forum on Education and Workforce hosted by the Salt Lake Chamber.
He joined Utah Valley University President Astrid Tuminez and Dixie State University President Richard “Biff” Williams for the panel discussion.
Williams said preparing students for the workforce must be a deliberate process: working with industry partners to understand their specific needs and creating certificate and degree programs that provide students a clear path to employment.
As industry officials visit the St. George area exploring whether to relocate to the fast-growing area from out of state, “The first question is, ‘Here’s the workforce we need. This is the level of education we need. Can you deliver?’” Williams said.
“Especially in Washington County, we’re going to need a nimbleness to meet their demands,” he said.
Utah County is likewise feeling that pinch as Silicon Slopes continues to develop and the area’s population continues to grow. With Utah’s nation-leading low unemployment rate, dual-mission universities — with their open admission policies — open doors of opportunity to people who in the past have been told “they’re not college material, they’re not even worthy of post-secondary education,” said Tuminez.
Tuminez, who earned graduate degrees at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said UVU’s diverse students are “the most exciting group of people I have ever worked with.” Most UVU students work, 43% qualify for federal grants and 36% are first-generation college students.
While all are admitted, students undergo “intrusive counseling” to ensure they receive university resources that will help them succeed, she said.
Workforce development is a fundamental mission at UVU, she said, pointing to the university’s partnerships with technology partners locally and globally.
UVU has partnered with Silicon Slopes to offer a technology management emphasis master’s in business administration at the nonprofit organization’s headquarters in Lehi.
Equally important, however, is educating every student for life, she said.
“The ‘why’ is to work with every student so she, he or they can live a dignified, productive and meaningful life,” Tuminez said.
Increasingly, students question if they need college degrees. Tuminez said state institutions are competing against employers who will train workers to code for free but take a portion of their pay once they have jobs.
“We need to be very aware disruption is happening,” she said.
It’s “a myth” that people don’t need college educations, she said.
Many college students will work in jobs that haven’t even been conceived, so it is crucial that they learn to be good communicators, writers and problem solvers, Mortensen said.
Besides, college graduates will earn, on average, $1 million more over their lifetimes.
For students to go to dual-mission institutions, they can earn certificates and enter the workforce and come back to earn degrees as their career goals change and the economy evolves. Meanwhile, they have banked stackable academic credentials.
In that respect, dual-mission universities are “on- and off-ramps to the workforce,” Mortensen said.
Borrowing a phrase that computer gamers use, “if you level up, you don’t ever have to go back,” he added.
