MCCS president calls for investments in Maine workers

Demand for workforce development exceeds community colleges’ capacity to deliver

AUGUSTA, ME—Noting that demand for skilled labor across Maine exceeds supply, Maine Community College System President David Daigler encouraged lawmakers to invest in the “responsive, efficient, and relevant” education and training available at Maine’s seven community colleges.

In the State of the Community Colleges biannual address to a joint session of the Legislature, Daigler outlined new programs, partnerships, and educational pathways under development across the community college system.  These innovations, he said, are designed first and foremost to address a growing demand for skilled workers in the state’s key industries: “A responsive community college needs to develop new ways to deliver higher education when students need it, where students can access it, and in a form that truly improves an individual’s ability to advance his or her career.”

Daigler went on to note that the state’s community colleges currently educate 35 percent of students enrolled in Maine’s public colleges and universities with 24 percent of the state’s higher education budget. And he stressed the need to provide far more Maine people with access to higher education and training. “There are tens of thousands of Mainers who lack the skills and education they need to fully compete in this economy,” he said.

The full text of President Daigler’s speech is available at https://mccs.me.edu/wp-content/uploads/State-of-the-MCCS-2019.pdf. [Watch it here.]

The MCCS is comprised of seven community colleges and six off-campus centers which annually serve over 25,000 students through degree programs, credit and noncredit courses, and customized training.   For more information about the state’s community colleges, go to https://mccs.me.edu/.