An exploration of higher education\u27s role in meeting the continuing education needs of small business employees

This study explores higher education\u27s role in meeting small business employees\u27 continuing education needs. There is a growing need for the interpretation of knowledge in small business today. To stay competitive, and even to survive, businesses need a more rapid dissemination and application of knowledge. This challenge for small businesses is being created by changing skill requirements in the workplace, an aging workforce, a worsening labor shortage, demographic changes (including more women, immigrants, and minorities), and international competition. The challenge for small businesses is further emphasized by the Hudson Institute in Workforce 2000 when they predict that new jobs and most of the new wealth over the next decade will have to come from non-manufacturing small businesses. They predict that many of these new jobs will require much higher skill levels than the jobs today. On-the-job-training programs in small businesses often lack the structure and content needed by employees. Many small businesses neither have the expertise to develop continuing education programs adequate to meet their employee needs, nor the resources to purchase programs outside as larger businesses do. These are important gaps. Small businesses see the tasks of educating their employees particularly urgent as they prepare for the demands of the changing economy with their limited resources. This study will provide necessary data about current and future small business employees\u27 continuing education needs. It will be of interest to higher education institutions who wish to participate in employee continuing education for small businesses. It is a demand survey that identifies key training issues and gaps, and provides detailed information on the nature of the demand of small businesses for employee continuing education. Fifty-six different eastern Massachusetts small businesses from thirty-one different communities were surveyed through structured personal interviews. The results suggest that small businesses consider employee continuing education to be an important function of their business. They would like to work more closely with higher education institutions in closing the gaps in their employees\u27 continuing education needs