Dr. Michael McCall, president of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, has unveiled a business plan that outlines specific steps that KCTCS plans to take to meet the needs of Kentucky’s changing economy.
Strategic initiatives put forth in KCTCS’ “Plan for a Competitive Commonwealth 2008-2020” include the expansion of workforce programs to meet projected needs, efforts to eliminate barriers to KCTCS students transferring to four-year colleges and universities, early intervention strategies to prepare high school students entering KCTCS, remediation services for all KCTCS students who indicate a need, and efforts to provide adult education and literacy programs and services.
In order to achieve the initiatives outlined in the business plan, McCall said, KCTCS will need an incremental increase in funding of $32 million annually through 2020.
“We realize that there is a cost associated with the critical initiatives, but what is the cost of not creating a skilled and trained workforce to meet the needs of business and industry?” McCall said.
KCTCS was formed in 1997 as part of the state’s reform of higher education and was charged with combining the 14 community colleges that were part of the University of Kentucky with the 15 technical colleges that were under the state’s jurisdiction. Today, KCTCS functions as a system of 16 comprehensive community and technical colleges with 67 campuses throughout the state and has an enrollment of more than 92,000 students.
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