The Trans-Atlantic Technology & Training Alliance is an international network of community, technical, and further education colleges from the United States and Europe dedicated to learning, innovation, and collaboration.  For more information about the TA³ see  http://www.ta3online.org.

Upcoming TA3 2012 Meetings

Hosted by Gateway Community & Technical College, Kentucky, October 1-3, 2012.

The Future of Manufacturing: Implications for Education and Training

• What types of manufacturing and what kinds of companies are most likely to continue to manufacture in advanced, high-wage economies?
• What entrepreneurial opportunities will develop and can these produce a large enough employment base to be significant?
• What types and levels of skills and knowledge will community college graduates need in the future and what will their career paths look like?
• Why do too few students enter manufacturing career paths to replace a rapidly aging workforce, even with the promise of good wages?

Experts and practitioners from the U.S. and Europe will try to look ahead to see where manufacturing is headed in advanced economies and how to best develop and take advantage of new opportunities.   With employment levels uncertain due to global competition and increasing automation, how can community and technical colleges in the U.S. and Europe best help manufacturing both sustain and re-invent itself?

Member News

Finland-US Food Project

In October 2011, a group of six students, teachers in business and culinary arts, and an international coordinator from Tampere College spent two weeks at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn as part of a “Slow Food” project funded by the National Board of Education in Finland.  The goal was to share cross-cultural experiences, knowledge, and skills related to food preparation, horticulture, marketing, customer service, branding to better prepare students for future jobs.  This project introduced views on certain modern lifestyles that can have harmful impacts on personal health, environment, and economy.  The slow food philosophy is about improving balance with a calmer pace of life, gratifying social relations, and a better quality of life.  “Slowness” means understanding how to manage time in a sustainable way.  Chefs must be able to explain the origin of their products and present what is served at their restaurants in English.  The business students gain experience in different areas of export marketing, and horticulture students learn about primary production and breeding for international markets.

Educating for Sustainability in Denmark

Denmark has long been known for its efforts to achieve environmental sustainability, and wind farms are visible across the country.  Ten members of the TA3 and Alliance for Sustainability and two partners involved in sustainable housing traveled to Denmark this past October to learn about programs and policies that support sustainable building.  The trip began at EUC-Syd in Sønderborg in southern Jutland, a charter TA3 and Alliance member—also the site of the country’s most ambitious sustainability plan, ProjectZero.   Hosted by EUC-Syd administrators,  the group has a chance to see the well-known Danish apprenticeship program in action and observe some of the city’s energy efficiency efforts including the zerohouse.

From Sønderborg, they went on to VIU University College in Horsens to visit its Research Centre for Sustainable Buildings, then to Copenhagen to visit companies, a Green Building Trade Show, and Copenhagen Technical College.  A report on what they saw and learned on the trip, written by Amy Kox of Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, is available online at http://rtsinc.org/publications/documents/denmarkgreenbldgfinal.pdf.  Members of the delegation and Lene Bonnen Sandholt from EUC-Syd presented a webinar on February 21 that can be viewed at http://rtsinc.adobeconnect.com/p7acgscw56x/

Howard Community College Wins Two National/International Awards

Howard Community College in Columbia, Maryland, has received the national 2012 Andrew Heiskell Award for Internationalizing the Community College for its Global Distinction program. Global Distinction is an academic enrichment program open to all students regardless of major or GPA.  Upon completion of course work, an immersion experience and campus events, students present a portfolio of experiences and are recognized for their work to achieve a greater global perspective.  More information and program details can be found at: http://www.howardcc.edu/academics/academic_enrichment/global_distinction/.  The Global Distinction program grew out of a joint faculty learning community between the Community College of Baltimore County and Howard Community College.  This program has also won the 2012 Diana Hacker Award for Outstanding Programs in English for Two-Year Colleges and Teachers from the National Council of the Teachers of English. It was selected as the exemplary program in the category of Reaching across Borders.

Howard’s Center for Entrepreneurial and Business Excellence program, “A Holistic Approach to Entrepreneurial Education Across the Curriculum” also has been selected as on the 10 Bellwether Finalist Winners in the Instructional Programs and Services Category.  Representatives of the program will compete via presentation for the prestigious 2012 Bellwether Award at the upcoming Community College Futures Assembly.  The Community College Futures Assembly convenes each year as an independent national policy think tank to identify and recognize the role of community colleges in providing innovative solutions to the challenges of today.

Design as a Competitive Edge in Kentucky

The Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation (KSTC) will host a Design as a Competitive Edge Workshop on March 15, 2012 at the Gateway Community and Technical College (GCTC) Boone Campus in Florence Kentucky.  This concept, which grew out of a recent plan for science and Technology completed by KSTC with RTS, is based on the idea that profitable innovation and manufacturing often utilize design to create distinctive products that provide a great customer experience and brand loyalty. This workshop is on the role of design-centered innovation and manufacturing, which community colleges can both influence and support.

New Member

The TA3 welcomes Cleveland State Community College (CSCC) and its President, Dr. Carl Hite, as a new member.  Cleveland State is a comprehensive two-year public community college operating within the governance of the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) and approved by the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.  For over 40 years, CSCC has been committed to providing a quality education and open access for the people of Bradley, McMinn, Meigs, Monroe and Polk counties.

Its enrollment is approximately 3,500 credit and 1,500 non-credit students enroll in a typical fall semester.  Ninety percent of its more than 70 faculty members have master’s or doctorate degrees. The college’s 105-acre campus has ten major buildings housing classrooms, laboratories, student activity centers, a 65,000 volume library, learning resources center, 400-seat auditorium, 3,000-seat gymnasium that includes a fitness center available to students and the public, athletic fields, tennis courts, a small business development center, and a full-service student center with cafeteria, bookstore, and student lounge areas.   CSCC has two off-campus sites in Athens and Madisonville.

The college has a strong focus on sustainability, is designated as an arboretum, and has the distinction of being the only college in Tennessee to achieve the Tree Campus USA designation. Also a member of the Alliance for Sustainability, CSCC is on the cutting edge of efforts to transform the way energy is used in its region.  The school is re-vamping its curriculum in construction technologies with a program in energy efficient residential construction to attract students and companies who see the economic benefits of using energy efficiency to brand them in the marketplace.

Cleveland State provides a variety of courses for individuals planning to transfer to a four-year college or university, or to earn an associate degree or certificate to directly enter the workforce. Scheduling options include day and evening classes, independent study, video courses, and courses delivered via the Web. For more information on Cleveland State, visit the website at www.clevelandstatecc.edu or call 1-800-604-CSCC.

Network News

NC Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Troxler

The Community College Alliance for Sustainability held a meeting in Pittsboro, North Carolina on September 29-30 on the theme of educating young and beginning farmers in sustainable food systems.  Fifty participants representing 16 states attended the events, which were supported from the Farm Foundation, Farm Credit Council, Appalachian Regional Commission as well as the Ford Foundation.   The local host was Central Carolina Community College, which has one of the nation’s first and most successful programs in sustainable agriculture.  Participants learned about innovative educational practices, success stories in food innovation centers, local marketing, working with non-profits, sustainable practices, and national programs and resources.  The conference report is available here.

Miscellaneous information and events

Cynthia Liston, past co-director of the TA3 while at RTS (and past co-editor of TA3 Connections) has a new position as Associate Vice President of the North Carolina Community College System for Policy Research & Special Projects at the North Carolina Community College System.   Cynthia is leading statewide initiatives focused on student success and smoother transitions between K-12 and college.

Risto Raivio, from the European Commission’s Education and Culture department spent the fall semester 2011 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as EU Fellow. He conducted a study focusing on the role of community colleges in local skills strategies, an issue that is currently high on the European political agenda.  On the one hand, it reflects a growing understanding of the importance of middle level skills for the economic competitiveness.  On the other hand, it relates to the fact that youth unemployment rates are extremely high in some of the European countries, which calls for actions to improve transitions from education and training to work.  Risto draws lessons from North Carolina’s Community College System to nourish policy considerations in Europe.  The report draws attention particularly to the active partnerships among community colleges, local business, public authorities and other community stakeholders.  His report concludes that Europe has ample room for—and need for—improvement in developing the roles of vocational training institutions in economic development.  Other findings point to the need of better linking initial and continuing vocational training and to the value of partnerships between colleges and local community organizations in order to reach out to groups with less experience in formal education settings. The report will be soon available at http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc60_en.htm.  Risto Ravio spoke at the TA3 symposium on Supporting Sustainable Communities in Asheville in 2010 (http://www.ta3online.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/raivio.pdf).

Uffe Elbæk, who was a keynote speaker at our TA3 symposium in Whitefish, Montana in Fall, 2006 on creativity and innovation in technical education was recently appointed Minister of Culture for Denmark.  Then director of Kaos Pilots in Århus (http://www.kaospilot.dk/), one of the world’s most creative schools and educational environments, he gave an inspiring talk about applying creativity to education.

Sonderborg, Denmark’s ProjectZero, which works in partnership with TA3 member EUC-Syd, has been accepted to join the global C40-Climate Positive Development Program in partnership with The Clinton Climate Initiative, thereby becoming part of a global network of the world’s most ambitious climate projects.  The network also includes programs in London, Sydney, Melbourne. Seoul, Stockholm, and the U.S. college town of Oberlin in Ohio.  Sonderborg’s public private partnership will work to create climate-positive city-wide solutions to simultaneously create growth and reduce CO2.  Through energy efficiency and conversion to green energy the Sonderborg’s goal is to reduce the region’s CO2 emissions to zero by 2029, which in turn will create new green jobs both within manufacturing and the service sectors.  ProjectZero Director Peter Ratje was a speaker at the TA3 2010 symposium (see http://www.ta3online.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/rathje.pdf.)

Marc Tucker at the National Center on International Education (who was a keynote speaker at the 208 TA3 symposium at Howard Community College) has formed a new Center on International Education Benchmarking that will conduct research on the most successful educational programs, policies, and practices.   Its advisory board includes Roland Østerlund, one of initial founders of the TA3 and former Director General of the Danish Ministry of Education and head of vocational education for Denmark.   Roland has a review of a recent book by Nancy Hoffman titled “Schooling in the Workplace: How Six of the World’s Best Vocational Education Systems Prepare Young People for Jobs and Life” at http://www.ncee.org/2012/01/global-perspectives-a-global-guide-to-quality/.

The American Association of Community Colleges is in the process of updating its 2008 Community College Press book “Global Development of Community Colleges,Technical Colleges, and Further Education Programs,” covering many of the TA3 member college countries.  The new edition will be available later this year.

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TA³ Secretariat

Lars Møller Bentsen, International Adviser for the Danish Agency for International Education

Keith Bird, Senior Policy Fellow,  Corporation for a Skilled Workforce

Darlene Miller,  Director, National Council for Workforce Education

Stuart Rosenfeld, Principal and Founder, Regional Technology Strategies

For more information please contact Stuart Rosenfeld at RTS (rosenfeld@rtsinc.org) or Lars Møller Bentsen at lmb@iu.dk

Below are some photos from the TA3 report on the study tour of Denmark that demonstrated their commitment to sustainability and the technical training supporting it. The full report is available here.

Student craftmanship at EUC-Syd

Sheep & solar panels at EUC-Syd

Stimulating Innovation And Creativity In Education: Sharing Of Practises Across The Atlantic

Opening of the Conference
09.00-09.05 Welcome, Mr Jose Miguel, Director of TKNIKA
09.05-09.25 Ms. Isabel Celaá. Minister of Education of the Basque Government
09.25-09.30 Setting the theme, Keith Bird and Lars Møller Bentsen.

Development of the conference
09.30-10.00 Keynote, Hans F van der Aalst
Fontys University for Professional Education, Netherlands
“The double-helix of ideas and skills: the DNA of innovation”

10.00-10.30. Keynote speaker, Koldo Saratxaga
Association of companies K2K Exciting, Basque Region
“Learning or Education? Is it clear what and what for?”

10.30-11.00. Panel discussion – Moderator Keith Bird, Corporation for a Skilled Workforce

11.00-11.20. Refreshment Break

11.20-11.50. Keynote speaker, Stuart Rosenfeld
Regional Technology Strategies, NC, USA
“Teaching creativity, promoting innovation”

11.50-12.20. Keynote Speaker, Dr Stephan Szuppa
European Institute of Innovation & Technology, ICT Labs German Node, Germany
“From Top Innovations to focus setting in Education – new competences in Smart Energy Systems”

Samuel Triguero, TKNIKA, Basque Region
“A model of Innovation for Technical Colleges and educational institutions”

12.20-13.00. Panel discussion – Moderator Keith Bird, Corporation for a Skilled Workforce

13.00-14.30. Lunch

14.30-16.30. Parallel workshops on college practices in innovation and creativity

Workshop A: Stimulating creative skills in college programs

Moderator: Jonathan Deutsch, Kingsborough Community College, NY, US

14.30-15.45. Examples from Denmark, USA and Scotland
- Alice Petersen, Lillebaelt Academy of Professional Higher Education, Denmark
“48 hours – a model for stimulating creative skills and innovation through college-company partnerships”

- Anna Szabados, Salt Lake Community College, UT, USA
“Bigger and Better Ideas. Techniques of Creative Problem-solving”

- Linda McTavish, Anniesland College, Scotland, “Culture in the City, Culture in the College”

15.45-16.30. Panel Discussion

Workshop B: “Culture in the City, Culture in the College” Innovations in education and institutional practises

Moderator: Lars Møller Bentsen

14.30-15.45. Examples from Basque Region, USA and Germany

- JoAnn Hawkins, Howard Community College, MD, USA
“Promoting innovation at Howard College”

- Rebecca A Nickoli, Ivy Tech Community College, IN, USA
“How can innovation and creativity be scaled for greater impact?”

- Martin Stöckmann and Wilfrid Lammers, Siemens Professional Education, Germany
“Education for the smart grid”

15.45-16.30. Panel Discussion

16.30 Adjourn

Download the issue here.

On January 14th members heard from Julian Alssid, executive director of the Workforce Strategy Center on opportunities to improve employment outcomes using the Career Pathways program. Click here to download the PowerPoint show.

The February webinar focused on funding opportunities available from the National Science Foundation’s Advanced Technological Education program.  Dr. Gerhard Salinger described the program:

The ATE program promotes improvement in the education of science and engineering technicians at the undergraduate and secondary school level and the educators who prepare them, focusing on technicians for high-technology fields that drive the nation’s economy. The program, in its 18th year, focuses on two-year colleges and expects two-year colleges to have a leadership role in all projects.

Dr. Salinger’s presentation is available here. Click here for more information on the NSF program. Download the grant solicitation here.

You can download a copy of the newsletter here.

Plan to join us in lovely San Sebastian in the Basque region of Spain for the May 1-4, 2011 TA3 meeting on innovation and creativity. The event is co-sponsored by TA3 and the Tknika Centre for Innovation in Basque supported by the Basque Department of Education. Events on May 1-2 are open to all and the May 3-4 sessions are for TA3 members and their guests.

Generating new jobs, new industries, and new competitive advantages in existing industries is high on the agenda of governments around the world.  They recognize that creativity, innovation, and talent are integral to each and that success will require not only a more highly educated and skilled work force but that thinks differently, that is highly creative.  This TA3 conference will focus on developing that creative and innovative labor force.  More specifically, it will highlight ways that education and training institutions can nurture creativity among their students and within their institutions to produce a workforce with the talent to innovate, and how that creativity and innovation can be enhanced by collaborative networks and alliances involving colleges, companies, research and technology centres that complement one another and share knowledge and practices.

Please go to the Tknika website to register and to find information on travel and accommodations, the symposium and the Basque region.