2006-7 Work Plan Goal 4

From EDtHEwiki

GOAL 4 – To provide support services to business recruitment, expansion, and retention.

• Financially fund/Implement/Institute program for building regional competence (e.g. SOIC)
  • To implement regional business recruitment, expansion, and retention requires a thoughtful policy linking regional potential, regional competence, and investments in infrastructure, regional facilities, and regional education institutions.

• Clarify Higher Educations Mission:
  • A successful regional university will have the capacity and mission to respond to the needs of regions.
  • Degree program arrays will reflect regional potential and development of regional competence.
  • Applied research and development will play a significant role in the institution’s mission
  • Engagement of students, faculty, and staff with the region will be a hallmark of the university’s identity.
  • System processes will be flexible to promote responses to changing regional conditions
  • Successful regional institutions will be highlighted and supported at the state level.

• Produce Intellectual Capital:
  • Degree programs: well-articulated and focused on student learning outcomes
  • Undergraduate programs will be synthetical and oriented to creating versatilists
  • Students: active learners taking part in cooperative education, internship, and mentored research experiences.
  • Students will be encouraged to have international experiences

• Business commercialization is effective if it produces:
  • New jobs
  • Higher wages
  • Successful business start-ups
  • Increases existing business competitiveness

• University support system:
  • Develop institutional culture at both the university and departmental level that endorses business support, innovation, and entrepreneurship.
  • Reward system for engaging in strong relationship with business and industry.
  • Hiring practices that give preference to faculty with experience in business and industry relationships.
  • Job assignments that reflect value of innovation, entrepreneurship, and commercialization.

• Higher education needs to promote entrepreneurship and innovation
  • Promotes and trains creativity
  • Enables applied learning
  • Drives applied research
  • Ensures skills for business creation
  • Infuses technology into the learning process

• Provide funding for the establishment, organization and implementation of regional economic and business development organizations at higher education institutions (e.g. SOIC). Create a culture of public engagement by higher education institutions which would involve partnering with businesses, communities, chambers of commerce, councils of government and local and state agencies to plan/implement regional initiatives. (Reference: “Stewards of Place”/Alliance for Regional Stewardship).
  • Build and strengthen the requisite relationship with local partners (e.g. regional and community organizations, local governments, other educational providers, business and industry);
  • Work proactively with these partners to identify needs and opportunities for engagement;
  • Encourage administration, faculty and students to engage with community/business needs and providing incentives/rewards;
  • Increase awareness of local partners regarding opportunities and resources available through higher education institutions.
  • Planning and goal-setting—establishing priorities community, business, and regional development
  • Create the capacity to be effectively engaged (capacity in terms of administration, faculty and staff, programs and services, and a supportive environment.
  • Utilization of this capacity in ways that further the agendas of the members of the partnership.
  • Monitoring and reporting—periodic assessment of progress toward goal achievement and public disclosure of the results.

• Specific issues confronting business recruitment, retention, and expansion would be identified and addressed such as:
  • Skilled workforce
  • Wireless connectivity and broadband internet accessibility
  • Quality and proximity of health care
  • Quality and quantity issues concerning water resources
  • Utility services
  • Child care for working families
  • Roads, highways, transportation and infrastructure
  • Health insurance and workers compensation

• Allocate funding to fully implement WorkKeys, KeyTrain and Oklahoma Career Readiness Certificates for economic and business development initiatives by higher education institutions.
  • WorkKeys is a job skills assessment system measuring “real world” skills that employers believe are critical to job success. These skills are valuable for any occupation—skilled or professional—and at any level of education. The WorkKeys job profiling component offers a concrete way for organization s to analyze the skills needed for specific jobs and to describe those needs to educators, students, and job applicants. For each position, job profiling identifies the skills and WorkKeys skill levels an individual must have to perform successfully. By comparing job profile information with individuals’ scores on the WorkKeys test, organizations can make reliable decisions about hiring, training, and program development. Job profiling meets the validity and fairness requirements of EEOC guidelines. Benefits for businesses include:
    • Business can increase profits
    • Reduce turnover, overtime, and wste while increasing morale
    • Take the guesswork out of your selection decisions
    • Establish legal defensibility in your selection process
    • Meet ISO 9000 standards and ensure quality business practices
    • Get the most efficiency from your training practices
    • Improve the effectiveness of training dollars.

• KeyTrain
  • KeyTrain is designed to make it easy to add effective WorkKeys training to any organization. KeyTrain is designed for individuals who:
    • May be unprepared for the challenges of the workplace
    • Perform below the goals of WorkKeys or similar assessments
    • Are not qualified for the jobs they want or need

• Oklahoma Career Readiness Certificates
  • Oklahoma Career Readiness Certificates are portable credentials that show an individual has certain fundamental skills needed in the workplace. The WorkKeys assessment system is used to determine those skill levels. Depending on their scores, potential or incumbent employees receive certification of their assessed status.

• Implement e-Synchronist Business Information System
  • e-Synchronist Business Information System is a web-based software tool to provide business retention and expansion teams with a better way to organize, analyze, and report company information, giving community decision-makers invaluable insight into the dynamics of the local economy and enabling them to assist businesses to expand and create jobs. It identifies growth companies, as well as those at risk, and unlike traditional business retention surveys, it provides a detailed analysis of survey answers and quantifiable facts to support business retention efforts.

• Increase Funding/Utilize Oklahoma Small Business Development Center
  • The Oklahoma Small Business Development Center is part of a nationwide network of SBDC’s which provide help and assistance to small businesses. The network has a special partnership with SBA, ODOC, SCORE, and local Chambers of Commerce through out the state as well as with many other organizations in the public and private sector. Qualified and experienced counselors are available to work with you to meet a multitude of business concerns including:
    • Market research, segmentation, and targeting
    • Developing a professional business plan
    • Securing funding
    • Marketing and sales
    • Government contract opportunities
    • International trade potential
    • Production and inventory control
    • Cash flow analysis and financial management
    • Training in management for retail, service and manufacturing companies

• Utilize the Oklahoma Alliance for Manufacturing Excellence, Inc.
  • The Alliance is committed to improving Oklahoma manufacturing and leading the movement toward modernization by implementing change in five crucial areas:
    • Technology - Using advanced materials, equipment and processes to modernize and meet global standards.
    • Marketing – spreading manufacturers’ messages and capabilities to new local, national, and global markets using research analysis and planning, brochures, and trade shows.
    • Human Resources – reorganizing work to improve effectiveness and develop new occupational, technical and problem-solving skills for managers, office staff and front-line production workers.
    • Finances – financial planning and securing financing for training, technology and market expansion.
    • Inter-firm Collaboration – managing relationships to create market opportunities and expanding production capabilities and learning systems.

• At TCC they have created new formats of delivery for classes in order to better accommodate the new hires being sent by business to further their education, to better prepare those who plan to enter the workforce in the future, and to accommodate those who are returning for professional development. Noted below are some of the formats we have found to work successfully for the above groups of students:
  • Online (Distance Learning) delivery
    • Classes are available in the traditional 16-week and eight-week semester format; however, the most popular delivery and time formats have been those Core Business and specialized business courses delivered in a four-week format each semester.
    • Students can take up to four of the four-week courses (12 hours) per semester concentrating only on one course at a time.
  • On-Campus Delivery Strategies for the above-mentioned group of students being targeted
    • Four by Four = Day and Evening classes that are taught in the four-week format; students concentrate only on one class at a time and can take up to four (12 hours) during the semester
    • Weekend College: An intensive course format offering the students the opportunity to take up to five of the three-hour courses being offered. The courses offered are the business core, some general education, and specialized industry courses
  • Another method that has accommodated the business and industry expansion is offering courses on site for industry in a “Community College Campus” format. Some are offered in community high schools, Community Learning Centers, etc.
  • To accommodate businesses who hire individuals and allow them “some” time off during the work day to attend college courses, we have utilized the blended (some refer to this as hybrid) format where students do not spend all 2400 minutes of seat-time together in the classroom. Students would actually attend on-campus only one day per week for an extended period of time rather than being on campus the traditional two or three days that most students attend classes. The class length is extended to either meet the full 2400 minutes of seat time for the three-hour course while on campus, or the blended format is used as describeD in detail below.
    • A certain percentage of the class time can be spent working outside the classroom for the class. An example would be the 33 percent blended course. Students would spend 66 percent of the seat time in class and be assigned to work through Blackboard on the Internet (Distance Learning method) in Discussion Boards, projects, team projects or through some other method to complete the seat time outside the classroom.
  • To support services to business expansion, we also have joined in a consortium with Tulsa Technology Center in Tulsa to provide a Business Assistance Center.
    • This Center provides support in a variety of ways to business men and women who wish to start new businesses or expand existing businesses
  • Continuing Education and Corporate and Contract Education at our Institution provides a variety of non-credit (from Continuing Education) and credit (Corporate Training) courses on a very short-notice for business and industries who need to meet immediate needs or very specific (to their business) needs for their employees or prospective employees

1. Develop a great relationship with the real players in all of the communities in our service area. (City Managers, Mayor’s, ED Managers).
2. Accept opportunities to serve on various industry or ED boards.
3. Partner with other groups like Alliance or SE Oklahoma.
4. Develop data base on all available buildings in service area.
5. Promote programs helping communities learn about business retention and expansion. (REI or OCI)
6. Promote retail development in small communities. ?????
7. Sponsor area wide meetings explaining new programs like new market tax credits and get all your bankers in so everyone can understand the tools that are available. REI, DOC, or your local ED group may be able to assist.
8. Speak at every opportunity; you may be at the right place to help someone. Plus you educate your community on the commitment your college is making to grow the area. Bottom line is more students!!!!!!!!!
9. Share with others how and what you are attempting to do. Many times someone else has already went down this road and can share pitfalls.
10. nd out where certified incubators are located, the available space and the cost. DOC and REI have listed on web.
11. Run to new companies in your area and let them know what your college can do to help them. Examples: Training their new supervisors in basics management skills, EEOC rules, and general accounting to name a few. We had a company that requested Spanish to be taught and we offered to set up a class on site.
12. Help start up companies develop a basic business plan and counsel them on marketing and finance. Help them realize what they need to hear and the responsibility they are getting into. Many new entrepreneurs have no idea of what they are attempting to do.
13. Always be a friend, offer support and always be very honest. Sometimes the latter will hurt but always be supportive of the effort.