Fayetteville Technical Community College is partnering with Richmond Community College to help area counties meet local workforce needs, according to a news release Tuesday.
RCC President Dale McInnis and FTCC President Mark Sorrells said the colleges will offer several specialized training programs, including respiratory therapy assistant, funeral service, paralegal, speech language pathology, and electric utility substation and relay technology, the FTCC release said.
The agreement was signed announced at RCC.
Sorrells said the partnership will help both colleges meet the evolving needs of the economy.
“The economy is changing rapidly. We need to be more responsive to that, and we can do that together,” Sorrells said. “We look forward to growing this opportunity with Richmond Community College in other program areas where it makes sense. And I can assure you from Fayetteville Tech’s standpoint, that this will be a win-win for both colleges.”
McInnis said the partnership is an example of “collaboration replacing competition” between two of the state’s 58 community, the news release said.
“There was a lot of work that went into this to make it seamless for the students,” McInnis said. “We wanted to open doors for students without having to create new programs.”
The collaboration will allow students to pursue career training currently unavailable in their home community. Students will be able to take first-year classes at their home institution, then complete one of the select programs of study at the other, the release said.
RCC students will be able to transfer into FTCC programs in respiratory therapy, funeral service, paralegal, and speech pathology. FTCC students will have options to transfer to RCC study electric utility technology after their first year.
Bill Carver, interim president of the N.C. Community College System, attended the announcement at RCC.
“Collaborations between colleges work. We’re going to make a better North Carolina, a better workforce, through collaborations just like this one,” Carver said.
For information about FTCC, visit https://www.faytechcc.edu.
