It’s no secret that South Carolina is home to a large amount of automotive, manufacturing and technology industries. With that environment comes the demand for qualified workers.
Over the past 10 years, South Carolina has seen a 17% growth in manufacturing, leading the country in tire and passenger car exports, according to the SC Department of Commerce.
When Andrew Hsu, president of College of Charleston, stepped into his role in 2019, he knew he had to be producing students qualified to fit that industry.
Hsu’s passion for increasing engineering courses and certifications at the College of Charleston stems from his personal career path in engineering. Prior to his position as president, Hsu served as the dean of engineering at San Jose State University, according to the College of Charleston website.
Since Hsu’s arrival, engineering, supply chain, manufacturing and other software degrees have become a heightened priority.
Lu Reckmann, adjunct professor at College of Charleston, was previously the CEO and president of IFA, a German automotive supplier. He said he really struggled finding qualified people to work for the manufacturer, so when retiring a year ago, he took the opportunity to teach and prepare students for his field.
Hsu has an advisory board of CEOs and executives from large companies in the area and they are all saying one thing: “we need engineers,” Reckmann said.
College of Charleston offers majors for supply chain management and electric, systems and software engineering as well as minors such as digital manufacturing technology and global logistics and transportation.
Reckmann said from his perspective working with IFA he had “well motivated” students and interns because of their opportunity to learn from small classes. Since engineering is new to College of Charleston, the program is a small portion of the college of business.
“There’s a really close relationship between the professors, the students and the link to the industry,” Reckmann said. “Now, I’m back here in the role as a professor… I can call my colleagues in the industry, and say, ‘how are my people doing.’”
Additionally, students can earn undergraduate and graduate certifications for advanced manufacturing, software engineering and operations research.
Hsu considers the certifications “micro-credentialing.” The credentials are aimed to add an extra element to the College of Charleston alumni when applying for jobs, which boosts them over other candidates.
“We believe this is practical thing that can shine on the resume, and they get a better kind of practical experience other than the regular education,” Chen-Huei Chou, the director of Certiport certification program and a professor of information management, said.
In addition to providing the job qualifications, Hsu said he tries to make sure that the equipment students are learning from at College of Charleston is the same they will be using when entering the workforce of Charleston businesses.
“This industry cares about employees who can immediately contribute,” Hsu said.
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Students are being given opportunities with companies such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz Vans through projects with College of Charleston, Reckmann said.
“They are very well prepared from the theoretical side, from the college, but also with all the projects we provided for the students,” Reckmann said. “They already know the company, and most of the time, those students are getting a job without applying for it.”
Through the interconnectivity of today’s world through technology and accessible travel, Hsu has implemented more language requirements into many of the business-related degrees.
“College of Charleston typically is a liberal arts college with a lot of language and culture, and this is not a contradiction to engineering. Actually, it is a very good compliment,” Reckmann said. “In my career of over 30 years in industry, I found out a good engineer is only a good engineer if he can speak languages, and if he understands the culture of another country.”
Considering Germany is South Carolina’s biggest export customer, Canada coming second, many German companies have manufacturing and engineering facilities in the state such as KION, Bosch, and most notoriously, Mercedes-Benz Vans.
With these manufacturing, engineering and software jobs, AI plays a role and has the potential to play a role in each one. Iris Junglas, a professor of information management systems, said learning AI for jobs such as manufacturing avoids students falling behind coworkers or missing signals that can be dangerous in facilities with a lot of equipment.
Considering the prominence of AI in many workforces, Hsu has also implemented AI education into curriculums throughout the college.
For Junglas, she said she hopes to help students understand that AI “is not magic, but it’s some real algorithms behind it.”
“We want our students to be the ones that know AI, not the other side with jobs being taken away from them,” Hsu said.
Since Hsu became president of the college, the acceptance rate has dropped from roughly 80 percent to the low 60s, with student population growth of roughly 20,000 students.
College of Charleston has also been adopted as one of the roughly 290 colleges and universities into the Phi Beta Kappa honor society, Hsu said.
The post How the College of Charleston is working to fill the manufacturing skills gap appeared first on Charleston Business.
