This publication is the first from the Leverhulme program of study, which focused on the major strategic options likely to be available to higher education institutions and policy-making bodies in the 1980s and 1990s. It resulted from a specialist seminar on higher education and the labor market. The chapters are: "Employers' Perceptions of…

Ben Hill-Irwin Technical Institute and the Georgia Interconnect Association designed and developed jointly a project to provide basic knowledge and practical application skills training. The curriculum included all necessary competencies for a student to graduate as a communications network technician. To compensate for the added expense of…

The Workplace Education Initiative was created in Massachusetts to provide workers with the opportunity to develop basic literacy skills, to increase employer and union awareness of the extent of functional illiteracy among workers as well as its cost, to develop a number of partnership models that link the acquisition of basic education skills…

This report includes two sections: (1) an overview of the issues involved in joint labor/management workplace education programs and (2) a description of such a program partnering two union locals, nine hospitals, and Bunker Hill Community College to implement a workplace-based career ladder program. The first section explains that unions and…

Brief descriptions are provided of 16 model literacy initiatives undertaken by community colleges in conjunction with local businesses or community groups. Following introductory comments by Barbara Bush, Tony Zeiss, H. James Owen, and Roy Romer, "Literacy: America's Great Deficit," by Earnestine Thomas-Wilson-Robertson and Tony Zeiss, reviews…

The community college has a distinct role in working cooperatively with the business community. Changes in the labor market and labor force and structural changes in the economy on both a domestic and international level are underscoring the important role community colleges can play in meeting the needs of industry for training and education.…

This handbook leads the reader through planning and conducting the collaborative evaluation of a workplace development initiative. A glossary is followed by an introduction that addresses the rationale for collaborative evaluation, values and characteristics, using the handbook in one's own situation, and optimum conditions for collaborative…

Reviews approaches taken by Oregon, Arizona, Illinois, Ohio, South Carolina, North Carolina, and California to incorporate community college systems into statewide economic development strategies. Approaches focus on small business assistance; anticipation of community needs; incentives for innovation; technology transfer; comprehensive…

Provides an annotated bibliography of ERIC materials on the role of community colleges in economic development, including general articles, services to businesses, state economic development activities, and local economic development. (DMM)

Criticizes the slow rate of responsiveness of the community college bureaucracy to the needs of the local business constituency. Highlights trends toward off-campus, on-site specialized job training programs; and the establishment of economic development centers and other special mechanisms for vocational training. (DMM)

Designed to help community colleges create and operate a business center to serve local employers, this booklet provides information, illustrations, models, and insights to encourage the establishment of new outreach programs into the business community. Section I offers guidance on planning a business center for economic development and job…

Discusses business-school partnerships designed to confront the declining number of high school graduates, the ever-worsening dropout problem, and projected shortages of technically skilled workers. Describes regional and national collaborative programs sponsored by Digital, Hewlett-Packard, Lockheed, and Atlantic-Richfield. Includes six…

Examines trends in work force training needs and innovative approaches to meeting those needs (e.g., business incubators, small business development centers, 2+2 programs, and cooperative education programs). Suggests ways in which community colleges can become more involved in work force development. (DMM)

Describes South Carolina's program of Special Schools which offer crash training through the state's two-year technical colleges to help new and expanding industries begin their operations through preemployment training programs. Highlights diversity in training, quick response to industry needs, and individually styled training. (DMM)

The vocational education system was started in the United States by a collaborative effort of employers, educators, and unions. If vocational education is to meet the critical skill needs of industry, Federal policies providing for broader governance and an incremental approach to the planning and delivery of vocational education programs are…