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Point Park College partners with North Side career center
Wednesday, July 05, 2000 By Bill Schackner, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Point Park College and Bidwell Training Center have launched a partnership to encourage students attending the North Side center to complete a bachelor's degree at the Downtown campus.
The partnership is the latest between a career center and a four-year campus and comes at a time when the state is encouraging schools to better prepare students for jobs, especially in technology.
In January, state university campuses at California, Clarion, Edinboro, Indiana and Slippery Rock said they would start accepting certain credits from 20 participating Western Pennsylvania trade schools.
The initiative between Bidwell and Point Park will begin in the fall.
Point Park has agreed to accept Bidwell course work for credit and will assign counselors to ensure that Bidwell students choose studies that count toward a Point Park degree.
Bidwell is a not-for-profit center offering short-term vocational and educational programs. Its majors include business travel counselor, chemical laboratory technician, culinary arts, information sciences, medical claims processor, medical coder/abstractor, medical secretary, medical transcriptionist, pharmacy technician and plastics processing technician.
Point Park, a private college, enrolls about 2,700 students.
"Work force development is one of the most important challenges facing the region. Point Park and Bidwell Training Center have individually been addressing those needs for years," Point Park President Katherine Henderson said. "Graduates of both institutions traditionally remain in the region. In fact, more than 70 percent of Point Park's alumni live and work in Western Pennsylvania."
Henderson said students from Bidwell are most likely to pursue Point Park degrees in business, science and engineering technology.
She said the school is working with Bidwell to develop financial aid programs for the students.
Colleges across the region that have entered partnerships with trade and career schools have cited the importance of pairing strong technical skills with a broader liberal arts background. Henderson said the same is true of her school's initiative with Bidwell.
"It's going to strengthen the work force in Pittsburgh by giving people more skills, a higher credential and a broader educational background," she said.
Bill Strickland, Bidwell president and CEO, said the partnership with Point Park will help ensure students have the technology skills most in demand.
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