WBJOURNAL.COM EXCLUSIVE: QCC Eyes Expansion Opportunities
Gail Carberry, president of Quinigamond Community College in Worcester.
Southern Worcester County needs photonics specialists. The Blackstone Valley needs skilled manufacturing technicians and entrepreneurs. Auto technicians are in demand all over. If casinos get off the ground in the state, they'll need to hire people to fix slot machines and manage restaurants and hotels.
Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester is here to help. President Gail Carberry says QCC is looking at adding or expanding programs in these fields and more at satellite campuses.
For some time, the college has been considering opening new branches, in part because it simply doesn't have room for more students at its main location in Worcester.
"Our West Boylston Street campus is pretty much bursting at its seams," Carberry said.
But QCC's possible expansions - in the Southbridge area, Blackstone Valley, Marlborough and downtown Worcester - aren't just about bringing in more students. The college is looking to create specific programs for the various locations based on the needs of the local business communities.
Cutting The Commute
The South County area may be the most obvious place for the college to expand. Carberry said QCC now draws more than 1,200 students from Sturbridge, the Brookfields, Spencer, Oxford, Webster, Dudley and Southbridge. And many of those students have trouble making the trip, especially when gas prices are high.
Carberry said the college has offered night courses at Southbridge High School for the past 40 years, but it hopes to move to a dedicated site next fall and start expanding its offerings. Already, QCC has been talking with local employers, high schools and other players about what kind of curriculum suits the area.
Alexandra McNitt, executive director of the Central Mass South Chamber of Commerce, said many local employers welcome the idea of a college campus in their midst. She said manufacturers and hospitals, in particular, are interested in gaining a resource for training their current employees as well as a potential source for skilled, local entry level workers.
"It would just be an incredible boost to our area," McNitt said.
Because of the high concentration of photonics and optics manufacturers in the South County area, QCC is considering adding classes there specifically focused on those fields. Carberry said the Worcester campus has a longstanding electronics-related curriculum, but graduates of the program often need additional on-the-job training to handle the specific needs of photonics companies.
"We believe we can shorten the distance for the employers through the addition of new, more specialized options," she said.
Hungry For Education
Like their counterparts in the Southbridge area, Blackstone Valley employers are also eager to see QCC open a local satellite. Jeannie Hebert, president and CEO of the Blackstone Valley Chamber of Commerce, said some local property owners have even floated the idea of giving the college free space in the area.
"We really are hungry for a higher learning institution here in the valley," she said. "We would bend over backwards - I think we've made that clear."
Carberry said only about 500 current Worcester-campus QCC students come from the valley, but the college already runs its automotive program out of Blackstone Valley Technical High School, and it has organized some workforce training programs with the chamber. Hebert said the area is filled with small businesses that would particularly welcome courses in marketing, accounting and other important skills for small business people.
Meanwhile, Carberry said, QCC is also looking at expanding its automotive program. Depending how casino proposals move forward in the South County, it may start training local workers to fix slot machines and manage hotels and restaurants. And it's also looking at a program that would prepare students to transfer to a four-year college to get a bachelor's degree in computer science, something that could launch as soon as 2010.
Carberry said some onlookers question why the college is pushing for expansion in the face of a recession. The answer, she said, is that more students are now looking to enroll at community colleges. That leaves QCC with a choice: cap enrollment and wait out the economic turbulence, or try to play an active part in turning the economy around.
"We've decided that's our job: to be the storm chasers in the economic storm," she said.
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