Jeffrey Wharton IMPulse NC LLC, President Mount Olive, NC

Transcription

1 APTA Business Member s Workforce Assessment Jeffrey Wharton IMPulse NC LLC, President Mount Olive, NC Chair APTA Business Member Business Development Committee & APTA EXPO Committee

2 It All Started With We have a real problem finding new employees with the skills needed to design and build today s public transportation systems, and our company looks for the engineering talent we need in India or Spain or China. We just can t find young engineers coming out of U.S. colleges and universities who can work on traction power projects. The United States needs to respond to this challenge like they did in the 1950 s in response to Sputnik.

3 Workforce Assessment Program Initial work efforts taken Business member survey Define & verify technical talent shortages Study of the academic institutions Determine content and learning objectives of U.S. and international baccalaureate and graduate school transportation engineering programs Next Steps (Action Plan)

4 APTA Business Member Workforce Survey

5 APTA Business Member Workforce Survey

6 APTA Business Member Workforce Survey

7 APTA Business Member Workforce Survey

8 APTA Business Member Workforce Survey

9 APTA Business Member Workforce Survey

10 APTA Business Member Workforce Survey

11 Study of Academic Programs Countries Studied United States France Germany Spain United Kingdom Brazil India China Japan

12 Survey of Academic Programs (in the U.S.) Civil engineering schools with strong rail engineering programs: Penn State Altoona The University of Illinois at Champaign- Urbana

13 Survey of Academic Programs (in the U.S.) Other programs noted: Michigan Tech University developing certificate program in railway engineering for people holding a bachelor s in engineering University of Wisconsin Madison offers a comprehensive continuing education program in railroad engineering University of Nevada-Las Vegas planning a certificate program in high-speed rail

14 Survey of Academic Programs (in the U.S.) No undergraduate degree programs in transportation or railway engineering Some transportation offered as an area of concentration in civil engineering degree programs Largely focused on highways, traffic, and planning; little or no transit or rail engineering Public transportation design, development, and management typically covered in public policy and planning programs

15 Survey of Academic Programs (in Germany) A leader in university-level transportation and railway education in Europe German diploma (rail system engineering) earned through a three-year bachelor s program and a two-year master s program Bachelor s degree is required for entry to most engineering positions, but master s is more common

16 Survey of Academic Programs (in France) Professional Certificate in Railway and Guided Transport Systems is geared for engineers and managers working in the railway industry Covers passenger, local, intercity and freight transport One-year program includes coursework over 11 months, a professional internship and a professional thesis Prerequisites include a master s degree or a four-year degree plus three years of professional experience Managed by 20+ institutions, including Alstom, Bombardier, RATP, Siemens, and 6 universities

17 Survey of Academic Programs (in U.K.) Birmingham Centre for Railway Research and Education at the University of Birmingham considered to be leader in UK rail education No undergraduate degree programs in transportation or rail are offered in UK Postgraduate degrees in railway systems engineering and integration, including master s, postgraduate diploma postgraduate certificate

18 Survey of Academic Programs (in India) Indian Institute of Technology is a group of seven autonomous engineering and technical institutes of higher education located throughout India Bachelor s of technology and master s of technology degrees, plus PhD degrees with transportation engineering concentration IIT Delhi offers a postgraduate diploma in metro rail transport in technology and management

19 Survey of Academic Programs (in China) Comprehensive rail & transportation engineering programs Long tradition of educating students for specific transportation occupations with bachelor s, master s, and doctorate degrees (rail engineering) Schools devoted to transportation in road and railway engineering, vehicle operation engineering or traffic information engineering Top technical universities have public transport and rail research institutes

20 Survey of Academic Programs (Key Findings) Worldwide shortage of well-qualified transit and rail engineers Industry competes with other high tech industries for the best students Countries that maintained healthy passenger rail systems have strong university programs in rail engineering and management U.S. schools only offer a concentration in transportation in their graduate-level civil engineering programs Most foreign schools studied offer master s degrees in rail engineering or transportation engineering

21 Survey of Academic Programs (Key Findings) Internationally, the industry plays an important role in defining the need for rail and transit engineering programs for undergraduate and graduate students Private industry plays a significant role in funding and supporting interdisciplinary rail and transit academic research centers in the EU and Asia. Found a few select examples of similar private sector support in the US U.S. schools are importing faculty to teach rail courses Interest is growing in the education and availability of U.S. rail and transit engineers and professionals

22 Next Steps What do we want to achieve? More and stronger transportation and rail engineering courses in U.S. colleges and universities More contact with college and university students that are interested in transportation and rail engineering careers Enhanced efforts to encourage young people to seek careers in public transportation Focus on small, discrete steps that produce RESULTS

23 Next Steps How do we get there? Establish collaborative efforts with other transportation industry organizations Collaborate with the academic community Support programs that foster interest in public transportation careers Address policy Issues

24 Industry Collaboration Contact organizations such as AAR, REMSA, IEEE, AASHTO, ASCE, TRB, to build a strong constituency for these efforts Support other industries: AREMA s biennial Railroad Engineering Education Symposium (focus on university engineering faculty & railway engineering courses) Leverage APTA business members involvement with other organizations

25 Academic Collaboration Engage APTA s academic members (develop curricula) Collaborate with other rail engineering faculty (e.g., U.S. Dept of Education s TUNRail project) Participate in DOT s National Transportation Workforce Summit in April 2012 Provide schools and educators with job descriptions and industry requirements

26 Policy Issues H1B Visa process Difficult and time consuming process Railroad Retirement Utilize experienced knowledge base & protect pensions

27 Stay Tuned! We need your support and involvement as we shape the future leaders for our industry! Transit offers a great rewarding career!