Butler Community College Board of Trustees met last week to discuss an option to guarantee skills for graduates entering the workforce.
At the October meeting members reviewed the college’s report responding to a checklist of questions from the Technical Education Authority campus visit and several members showed interest in researching the guarantee of the skills section.
Leann Ellis provided some follow-up information on the topic.
She offered information on Hutchinson Community College’s retraining guarantee.
Hutchinson guarantees students who successfully complete vocational programs at HCC with and associate in applied science degree will have mastered the occupational competencies identified in the program. This guarantee, good through six months after completion, ensures the student will be prepared for vocational careers in the area the student has selected.
If an HCC graduate is judged by his or her employer to be lacking in skills, the institution will provide needed retraining for the specific skill.
Conditions for HCC that apply to the retraining include the graduate must be employed full-time in an area directly related to the vocational program from which he or she graduated, training at the institution must have been received within the last year of the completion of the program, the guarantee applies only to those competencies identified and taught at HCC, the institution will provide the identified needed training at the earliest time the skills are taught as part an existing course, the guarantee does not imply that the graduate will pass any licensing or qualifying exam for the particular career and the institution is not responsible for the cost of books, insurance, uniforms, fees and other course-related expenses.
Ellis reassured the members the example provided by Hutchinson was simply a beginning to work from and at which to look.
“This is just one of the several examples we can look at,” said Ellis.
Several board members expressed concern over what sort of liabilities were involved if a student had to be retrained.
Also board members wanted more specific language to explain the specifics in the option.
According to Ellis, Hutchinson has this program installed but has yet to have a graduate or graduate-employer to take them up on the offer.
Board Member Dalton Patterson said the guarantee seemed to be a great promotional idea for businesses. The guarantee of proper skill sets would be a great incentive for businesses to work with the college.
