The perceptions of contract trainers at public higher education institutions in Georgia concerning state and institutional policies which create or exacerbate barriers to contract training.

摘要

This research was designed to determine whether or not certain state and institutional policies and procedures are perceived by contract trainers at public higher education institutions in Georgia to create and/or exacerbate selected barriers to contract training with business and industry. An additional purpose was to determine the extent of involvement of those institutions in contract training.; The 66 administrators responsible for contract training at public colleges, universities, and technical institutes in Georgia were surveyed. A document analysis and fourteen interviews also were conducted.; It was determined that over 3,000 contract training courses were offered by the institutions in 1991-1992. Over 40,000 students participated, generating at least {dollar}6,000,000 in revenue.; Five policies were reported to impede contract training efforts. They were the constitutional prohibition on "rolling over" state funds and revenue, the requirement that programs be self-supporting, the institutional policy that mandates that the majority of contract training revenue be returned to the institutional budget rather than to the contract training budget, the lack of risk capital, and the lack of a state training program for contract training program staff.; The top four barriers to contract training were the lack of adequate training facilities, a program development staff of insufficient size and/or training, the lack of state-of-the-art training equipment, and inadequate funding.; There were no significant differences between the perceptions of college and university directors and those of technical institute directors concerning any of the potential barriers or policies.; The directors at the centralized and decentralized institutions differed significantly on two barriers: (1) internal competition between departments, divisions, and colleges; and (2) competition with faculty who consult independently. They also differed statistically on the institutional policy that requires all noncredit courses to be coordinated by one central unit.