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Session 3686

Concurrent Innovation: The Impact of PRIDE's Collaborative Approach to Work Force Education and Retraining

Robert Bowman The Shipyard College Philadelphia Naval Business Center

Carole M. Mablekos, Ronald W. Smith Department of Materials Engineering Drexel University

Abstract. As an education and training consortium, the Partnership for Retraining and Innovations in Delivering Education (PRIDE) established over its first three years a highly productive mode for sharing resources and expertise. Instituted to provide assistance to workers affected by a military base conversion, this collaboration has had a wider impact on technology education, particularly in the development of a new cross-institutional curriculum that advances engineering and technical education by aligning it with real-life manufacturing activities and workplace skills. A clear indicator of PRIDE's success has been to strong desire of the partners, area economic development agencies, and city work force agencies for the consortium to continue. Work on future developments is underway, with a central focus on transportation technologies.

Introduction. Rapid, responsive, and agile work force education has become a crucial regional need, as industries now demand sophisticated work force skills. This demand is particularly significant in the Greater Philadelphia area, formerly a flourishing manufacturing center, now struggling to cope with increasing global competition and a serious decline in its industrial base. Many industries have either left the area or have curtailed their operations, citing both a poor business climate and a lack of skilled employees. Meanwhile, the increasing complexity of industrial operations demands that even technicians have associate's degrees or at least the equivalent of a two-year technical education. But while employers are increasing asking for employees with competency-based academic credentials, this crucial industrial region ranks last in terms of technology workers having some college level education. Thus, a dramatic improvement in access to education and training for the Greater Philadelphia technical work force will be essential is the region is to sustain itself as a manufacturing and industrial center.

This paper presents a preliminary assessment of the first three years of PRIDE and the Shipyard College, its shared facility for retraining displaced defense workers, along with a vision of the potential for sustained collaboration to have a positive impact on the future of this region.

Background on PRIDE and the Shipyard College. A college/university coalition devoted to manufacturing education and training, PRIDE consists of Drexel University, Camden County

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Smith, R. W., & Bowman, R., & Mablekos, C. M. (1997, June), Concurrent Innovation: The Impact Of Pride's Collaborative Approach To Work Force Education And Retraining Paper presented at 1997 Annual Conference, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. 10.18260/1-2--6463