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The Voice of
Business, Industry & the Professions Since 1942 |
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By Molly Broad In the best tradition of collaboration between the 16-campus University of North Carolina and the state's businesses and industries, UNC Asheville and N.C. State University have teamed up to help manufacturers in western North Carolina solve a brain-drain problem that was beginning to threaten the region's industrial vitality. The result illustrates what can be achieved when the state's public universities and business community support each other in the interest of a healthy economy and the common good. And it provides a glimpse of the vast potential of information technology to expand educational access and opportunities for economic progress. Asheville-area industries require a steady supply of top-notch professional engineers, but there are no engineering schools in the region with four-year degree programs. Bright young people who want to become engineers have had to leave the area for at least the last two years of their education, and many of them haven't been coming back home to find jobs. The Asheville area has been losing some of its best home-grown talent to industries in other parts of the state and country. About four years ago, a group of local manufacturing executives and chamber of commerce leaders asked UNC Asheville to help solve this problem. UNC Asheville already had begun offering basic engineering courses originating from N.C. State via the Internet. These distance-learning courses were fully interactive, using technology developed at N.C. State to create a virtual classroom for students not only at UNC Asheville, but also at UNC Wilmington and Lenoir Community College in Kinston. Working with a local task force, faculty from N.C. State studied the needs of Asheville-area industries and proposed a four-year degree program in mecha-tronics, an emerging field that combines mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering. Several companies in the area pledged financial support for program development, facilities, and equipment, and some offered training opportunities for students. After gauging program demand and feasibility, doing exhaustive planning, and securing start-up funding from the legislature, last year we launched the mechatronics program at UNC Asheville via the Internet from N.C. State. Additional instruction and mentoring is provided by faculty on site. Now, aspiring engineers in the Asheville area no longer have to leave home for their education, and local industries that need engineers soon will be seeing less local talent slip away. A growing number of UNC campuses are now using distance-learning technologies, including the Internet and teleconferencing, to reach people who otherwise would not have access to a university education. Increasingly, these are adult learners, placebound by work or family commitments, who need university-level knowledge and skills for career advancement. Statewide, however, the demand for distance learning far exceeds our current ability to deliver it. And that is just one area in which we are struggling to bring our information technology capabilities in line with the needs of the state — and with the expectations of students and future employers. Too many UNC campuses lack the up-to-date IT networks and support services needed to maintain quality on-campus teaching and learning. Such networks also are essential for access to remote information sources, for research, and for public service activities. Just as information technology has become critical to how our universities teach, it also must be a major component of what we teach. Knowledge is now the primary competitive advantage between individuals, companies, and countries, and in today's world, acquiring knowledge and using it productively depends, increasingly, on the ability to use information technology. The director of human resources for one of our state's large companies has observed that “a good working knowledge of technology is becoming as necessary as the ability to read and write.” It is estimated that more than 90 percent of all U.S. workers already use some type of information technology in their jobs. The digital revolution is changing both the mix of jobs available in every sector of the economy and the skills these workers need to be competitive. Today's university graduates must be proficient in the use of information technology, regardless of their field of study or career path. That means our students, faculty, and staff must have up-to-date digital tools to help them think critically, work cooperatively, reason analytically, communicate effectively, and perform well in diverse settings. The University of North Carolina is in the midst of developing an information technology strategic plan. While working to expand and upgrade our IT infrastructures, we must ensure that we are making the best, most efficient use of our IT resources to improve teaching and learning, expand access, and streamline our administrative systems. There is much we can learn from business and industry about using IT to increase opportunities and improve quality. Companies of all types, all sizes, and in all parts of the state know that investment in IT is essential to remain competitive, and many have demonstrated that, when applied wisely and creatively, IT can yield tremendous returns. Business leaders can be most helpful by speaking out about these issues and by supporting UNC campuses as we develop and implement our IT strategy. The university's ability to retain its standards of excellence — and to educate the citizens who will keep North Carolina competitive — depends on our full participation in the digital revolution. Information technology has moved beyond being a useful catalyst for our programs and services to being a primary determinant of UNC's ability to fulfill its three-part mission of teaching, research, and public service. Molly Broad of Chapel Hill is president of the University
of North Carolina System. |
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