By BRENT MARTIN
St. Joseph Post
Missouri Western State University will begin to offer courses tailored to local workforce trends, beginning next month.
Missouri Western President Matt Wilson says the Workforce Development Center will begin July 1st by offering 200 courses.
“These courses, hands-on practical, some of them will be, you can take them a la carte,” Wilson tells host Barry Birr on the KFEQ Hotline. “You can take them one at a time or if you want a certificate, you can pursue a certificate. We will give you a badge and it’s really directly applicable to the workforce.”
Wilson says there is a lot of value in the traditional four-year college degree.
“But there’s also a value in the short-term, micro credentials, and that’s an area that we’re looking to expand in together, in partnership with the local industry to make sure that we are preparing folks for the jobs that are available here today.”
Wilson says courses will range from the essentials to what he calls “soft skills”.
“So, if you want to learn about how to do public speaking, how to do a presentation, how to put together different types of things, how to interview, there will be those types of courses that will be very affordable,” according to Wilson. “Or, even getting into the details. If you need to pick up some computer skills, we’ll have classes on computer skills. Cyber security is a hot area today. The jobs are just overflowing in that realm and so we’ll have a cyber security certificate.”
Flexibility is a key to the new courses which will be offered.
“Today, if you’re thinking, you know what, got some time over the next week, I want to pick up a different skill, I want to pick up some knowledge, you can come on to the Missouri Western website, you can click on the course and, boom, you could knock that course out in a day, in a week, or if you needed to take a couple of months to do it, you would be able to do that.”
Eventually, the center will receive advice on what courses it should offer by a panel of business experts. The center will be located in the Craig School of Business on the St. Joseph campus.