Due to increased demand for workers, degree requirements have recently begun to be withdrawn in favor of skills-based hiring practices. These newly opened doors have spawned a myriad of short-term training programs, some of these programs provide excellent education and skills training, however, there are no national standards or guidelines to oversee these programs. This lack of standardization and accountability results in a national assortment of certificates.. Employers find it difficult to ascertain exactly what their graduates have learned, and this lack of understanding makes normalizing hiring from these non-degreed programs for multiple sites across states and regions exceedingly onerous.
This proposed project will lead to the development of a national framework for a Biomanufacturing Technician Registered Apprenticeship. The creation of this framework will address the current industry workforce development challenges.
Best practices in biomanufacturing training will be identified and woven into the national standards with the help of our project partners and the to-be-created national advisory board.
Apprentice training will be consistent across regions, aligning competencies and streamlining hiring across multiple sites and regions.
The model can be expanded to train individuals for additional jobs in biomanufacturing, such as technician roles in quality, facilities, and calibration.
A sustainable pipeline of skilled, diverse talent will be created for the biopharmaceutical industry.
This initiative will benefit the biopharmaceutical industry, and investment in apprenticeship benefits employers, apprentices, their families and communities as well as the overall U.S. economy. The industry will benefit from having a source of consistently well-trained new talent entering this field. Quantitatively, the U.S. Department of Labor has reported on the return on investment (ROI) employers can expect to see with Registered Apprenticeships. Findings from the Evaluation of the American Apprenticeship Initiative (AAI) show that the typical employer experienced a positive return on investment, with the median ROI of 44.3%.
The goal of this project will be to create a national framework for a Registered Apprenticeship to train biomanufacturing technicians for the US biopharmaceutical industry, which will be approved by the Federal Dept. of Labor.
Create and make publicly available a "Biomanufacturing Technician Registered Apprenticeship (BTRA) Tool Kit" website with resources to empower employers and workforce development organizers.
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Apprenti
Life Sciences Workforce Collaborative (LSWC)
