Sinclair Community College will open a new non-credit corporate college at Austin Landing by November, according to school officials.
The Sinclair Board of Trustees unanimously passed a resolution at its board meeting Tuesday that will allow the school to move forward with the project. The school will allocate $1.1 million for capital and start up costs that will be paid back over 10 years, school officials said.
The corporate college, which will be 5,129 square feet will be on the third floor of the Innovation Pointe Building 2 at Austin Landing, according to the resolution. The site is in southern Montgomery County.
The training center will be used to serve "strategic growth markets," according to the board resolution. The center will be located near anchor employers including Teradata, Yaskawa Motoman Robotics and Sogeti "with the goal of becoming a Strategic Training Partner."
Deb Norris, vice president of workforce development and corporate services, said the school focused on selected industry clusters and targeting employers while developing the strategy for the corporate college.
Programs offered will include cyber security and forensics, information technology and data analytic and robotics will be part of the school's workforce development division.
The location will house Sinclair's first non-credit Cyber-Physical System Lab that will be used by the college's existing automotive technology program and forthcoming National UAS Training and Certification Center, the resolution said.
"We want to be aligned with employers," she said. She pointed to Teradata, Motoman and LexisNexis as companies that have expressed workforce needs. Although the school doesn't have formalized agreements with the businesses, Norris said, they have talked to the companies about expanding their existing partnerships by providing these specialized offerings for their industries.
"Workforce development has lots of moving parts," she said. "We are looking at future pipeline (of employees) as well as opportunities with incumbent workers for continuing education."
Norris said during the first year part of the goal will be to bring employers in to check out the corporate college offerings. The cyber offerings will be unique to the region and potentially will be a regional draw for employees from Columbus and Cincinnati.
Locating at Austin Landing will mean the education is more accessible for employees and will enable partnerships with the companies to move even more quickly.
"It's a wonderful location in terms of accessibility," Norris said. The anchor employers are companies Sinclair already has established relationships with. "We want to take those relationships to the next level," she said. "This is more about targeted industry so we can go broader and deeper with those companies.
"We know the importance of education and educational attainment and continuing education certifications to employers," she added. "This shows Sinclair's commitment to economic development and workforce development."
Of the $1.1 million, about $730,000 will be used for renovation of the space and for equipment and furniture. The college anticipates self-sustainability after the fifth year of operation and $370,000 will be used as bridge funding until the operation reaches self-sustainability.
Initially, the staff will include a site manager with an information technology focus and an administrative/sales support position.
