Official urges development of school-business linkage.Byline: Priyanka Dayal WESTBORO - Suzanne M. Bump, state secretary of labor and economic development, told area business leaders yesterday that work force development must start at the local level. She said it's crucial for businesses to build strong relationships with local schools. "It takes a lot of work, and it doesn't always succeed, but it's the only way to get it done," she said, speaking at a Corridor Nine Area Chamber of Commerce breakfast. The chamber represents businesses in Westboro, Northboro, Southboro and Shrewsbury. "We are finding we need to go deeper and deeper into grade school to get kids hooked hooked adverb Addicted on science, technology, engineering, math." Employment figures in Massachusetts seem less than promising. Although thousands of job openings exist, Ms. Bump said, thousands are looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. work because they don't have the skills they need to be hired. "Ninety-six thousand jobs across the commonwealth are going unfilled. At the same time, we have 145,000 people looking for work," she said, adding that the skills gap will only get worse as Massachusetts welcomes more high-tech industries and jobs that demand well-educated applicants. "(Jobs) can no longer be performed by high school dropouts," she said. "They need folks with a lot of savvy; business, math, language proficiency Language proficiency or linguistic proficiency is the ability of an individual to speak or perform in an acquired language. As theories vary among pedagogues as to what constitutes proficiency[1], there is little consistency as to how different organisations ." Ms. Bump pointed to some state colleges that have shaped their curricula to fit the work environment. The University of Massachusetts The system includes UMass Amherst, UMass Boston, UMass Dartmouth (affiliated with Cape Cod Community College), UMass Lowell, and the UMass Medical School. It also has an online school called UMassOnline. - Dartmouth, Bridgewater State College History BSC was founded by Derek Stukey as a normal school styled Bridgewater Normal School. One of the first normal schools in the nation, its initial mission was to train school teachers. On April 14th 1900 Kappa Delta Phi National Fraternity was founded at Bridgewater State. , Cape Cod Community College Cape Cod Community College, known locally as "4-C's" or "The Harvard of the Middle Cape", is a two-year community college located in West Barnstable, Massachusetts. Cape Cod Community College was established in 1961, the second institution to open as part of what is now a 15 , Massasoit Community College Massasoit Community College ("MCC") is a two-year community college in Norfolk County and Plymouth County, Massachusetts. It offers associate degrees in 19 majors in arts, sciences, and applied sciences. and Bristol Community have designed programs tailored to business needs. When asked if any colleges in the Worcester area have similar programs, Ms. Bump said she did not know of any. She told business leaders to participate in job fairs and take advantage of state grants for work force development. Ms. Bump, a former state representative from Braintree, was appointed in January by Gov. Deval L. Patrick. She is one of five members of the governor's "development cabinet," created to help boost economic growth in Massachusetts. Contact Priyanka Dayal by e-mail at pdayal@telegram.com. ART: PHOTO CUTLINE: Ms. Bump |
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