The Florida Department of Education has approved Broward College’s request to offer four new bachelor’s degrees, announced President J. David Armstrong, Jr. The new degrees are the BSN in Nursing, BAS in Information Technology, BAS in Supervision and Management, and BAS in Technology Management. The college already offers a baccalaureate degree in exceptional student education. The first group of 64 future teachers started classes on Jan. 5.
“Broward College has an opportunity to expand its role in the community and in higher education, while meeting the workforce development needs of our county and district,” Armstrong said. “We also think we can help our students, by allowing them to stay here at the college and complete their degrees with us. In addition, we are expanding opportunities for people in Broward County to earn bachelor’s degrees.”
Florida has one of the lowest rankings of any state in the production of bachelor’s degrees. Broward College’s proposals for the baccalaureate programs were in response to the documented demand for degrees and to shortages in nursing and applied sciences. For example:
• There could be a shortage of more than 50,000 RNs in the state by 2020, according to the Florida Center for nursing.
• Labor market research revealed that there will be 3,730 job openings in the field of information technology (IT) in this region in the next five years, but local universities will only supply 270 graduates at the current rates. This leaves a critical workforce shortage of thousands in IT.
• A gap analysis in the field of supervision and management found that the universities in this geographic location can graduate only 34 percent of the anticipated numbers of employees that will be needed by 2014, leaving a shortage of 5,510. However, Broward College graduated 1,030 students with AS degrees in 2006-2007 who would be eligible for admission into the Supervision and Management BAS program and who could help fill the gap.
• Broward College graduates are a ready pool of potential students who can be recruited for the technology management program and help alleviate the shortage in this workforce area. In the next five years Broward County is expected to need 4,425 employees to fill positions in technology management.
During these challenging economic times, when the state’s public universities have been forced to cap enrollment due to budget cuts, Broward College continues to strengthen its partnerships with them, especially with Florida Atlantic University and also with Nova Southeastern University, Armstrong said. “We want to ensure that our students can transfer easily and efficiently into the four-year degree of their choice.”
The Broward College District Board of Trustees “has been very supportive in the expansion of our role in the community and our staff has worked very hard,” Armstrong asserted. He added that, “Our mission is not going to change. We are still an open-door institution and remain committed to maintaining a full range of program needs for our students, including those that prepare educated workers for business and industry.”
The approval from the Department of Education to offer these programs is step one in the process. Next, a request will go to the state legislature for funding, and then the college will seek accreditation from SACS (Southern Association of Colleges and Schools).
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