Embracing technical education: Higher education looks to enhance CTE role | News, Sports, Jobs

A move this year by the Dakota Nursing Program to a Trinity-owned clinic building at the corner of Burdick and Broadway could be just the start in creating a health careers training facility in Minot.

Minot State University and the North Dakota University System are moving forward with a request to the 2025 Legislature to obtain funding to acquire the building for an allied health institute. MSU President Dr. Steve Shirley said there is potential to house an array of one-year to four-year nursing and allied health programs..

Although the first floor remains occupied by Trinity, the Minot medical center is open to discussing a potential sale if resources are available to bring the education plan to fruition, Shirley said.

“It’s an existing facility that’s just about a turnkey operation,” Shirley said. “It’s far more efficient and far more cost effective than brand new bricks and mortar.”

Randy Burckhard

A downtown campus separate from a traditional university setting also might have an appeal to older than average students or students looking to retool skills, he said.

Creating robust career and technical education offerings is not just good for the Minot community but it’s good for MSU, Shirley said.

“I think that connects us in higher ed more closely with workforce challenges, but also trying to create workforce solutions. And as far as Minot State is concerned, there’s also opportunities,” he said, citing the potential for CTE students to gain confidence to go on for bachelor’s degrees.

Shirley said the need for employees is across the board in nearly every employment sector, creating competition between employers and colleges and universities for those seeking careers. People are needed in the workforce but it also is important for them to have training and skills for many of the jobs that are available, he said.

“It’s an all-of-the-above strategy, as far as education goes and as far as career preparation and career training. One size doesn’t fit all,” Shirley said. “We really have a much broader portfolio of offerings here in the community of Minot, which, if you look back historically, that hasn’t been the case. Minot is the fourth biggest city in the state, and it’s been a bit of an outlier as far as access, particularly to more technical programs – CTE-type programming.”

Carmen Simone

One of the challenges has been the expense of career and technical programs.

Shirley said the Legislature, private corporations and individuals have been supportive when there’s been a clear vision, and the hope is that support will be there for the vision for the allied health institute.

“Last year, we did a lot for career and technical education,” state Sen. Randy Burckhard, R-Minot, said. “I believe we will do more this session because it’s a critical need, even to the point where we budgeted $66 million for child care because that is a workforce issue.”

Burckhard, who served on the governor’s Workforce Development Council from September 2017 to September 2023, said developing technical skills programs is critical.

“You’ve got 100 jobs available and you’re only filling 38%. The only thing that’s going to fix that is innovation and technology. It’s not like we’re going to eliminate people from jobs – because we don’t have enough people – but maybe the people can be more efficient when they’re supervising or handling the technical part of it, so that they can get more work done with less people,” he said.

Steve Shirley

The workforce council identified five areas to focus on, Burckhard said. The first is early and more diverse career exploration, such as the Magic City Discovery Center provides. A second area is addressing the technical skills gap, through programs such as the Minot Area Workforce Academy, and a third goal is to remove barriers to employment, including overcoming the impediment of felony records. Other key areas have been retaining North Dakotans to work in the state and reforming occupational licensing to increase opportunities for people from out of state, including spouses of military personnel. Legislators have made strides on the licensing issue for military spouses.

Senate Majority Leader David Hogue, R-Minot, said there is a legislative consensus that CTE plays a large role in addressing workforce needs. Much of the CTE funding comes through the federal government, so the challenge is in adjusting state funding to best complement that, he said.

“And if we’re going to support it from a state perspective, where are our funding priorities?” he said.

Carmen Simone, campus dean at Dakota College at Bottineau, said partnerships in which North Dakotans institutions of higher education work together is key to making the best use of the state’s investment. The Northern IT Consortium and Dakota Nursing programs, both with sites in Minot, are two ways the University System is doing that, she said.

“We have great partnerships and cooperation among the institutions,” she said. “We can work together to make things happen.”

Shirley said creating a CTE environment requires understanding the local needs. A CTE model elsewhere likely won’t be a fit for Minot, even though there are common problems around the country, such as workforce shortage, he said.

“We probably look more at what are the needs here in the community of Minot, in Ward County and in north central North Dakota. So, it’s really being responsive to that,” he said.