Framingham State Bolsters Biotech Ed | Study identifies lack of communication between state schools
The life sciences industry is on a growth track and here in Massachusetts it is growing 45 percent more rapidly than other industries in the state.
Even without the $1 billion shot in the arm over 10 years that is the state’s Life Sciences bill, there may be as many as 11,000 new jobs in the sector between 2006 and 2014, according to a recent report, “Growing Talent: Meeting the Evolving Needs of the Massachusetts Life Sciences Industry.”
The report was co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council, and conducted by the University of Massachusetts Donahue Institute.
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It also found that more than 80 percent of the jobs in the life sciences will require at least a four-year degree.
At the same time, the study found that the schools in our state that offer these degrees don’t talk enough to each other or get enough input from the industry to which these graduates go.
One of the areas where more action needs to be taken is in producing and retaining more graduate students with interdisciplinary training.
Simply, the life science community believes it needs more students that are not only trained in science, but are trained in business as well at the graduate degree level.
The study also suggests that more colleges and universities should consider a professional science master’s degree program, and integrate graduate studies in life sciences with professional training in business and management.
Biotechnology firms are looking for employees that have expertise in a broad range of areas including information technology, chemistry, engineering, toxicology and pharmacology.
Framingham State College, a school that many connect mostly with teaching and nursing degrees, has been working away on this issue.
In conjunction with IT experts, the school has developed a graduate degree in computer science that not only gives students the knowledge they need for an IT career, but it also provides the business knowledge they need.
The computer science department set up an advisory board with IT heads from leading companies that not only helped set up the new degree program, but have continued involvement with the department as student mentors and judges of student presentations, as well as advising on curriculum.
“They allow faculty to identify course content and skills that are most relevant to employers, and provide opportunities for students to make connections between concepts and applications, as well as giving students a ready-made network for career planning,” according to the college’s assistant professor in the department of economics and business administration Karen Druffel. She helped establish the advisory board.
And now they’re moving on to the life sciences.
The school has been working on an undergraduate degree in biotechnology, getting input from Genzyme Corp., the large biotech company in Framingham.
Framingham State College President Timothy J. Flanagan has the right idea. He and others at the school want to see it grow beyond what it has always been known for, teaching first, then nursing.
And the school is involving industry as it broadens what it offers students, which is important. Genzyme’s President and CEO Henri Termeer boiled it down to its essence during a tour of the company’s new center in Framingham.
“That is how we learn from each other,” he told Flanagan as they discussed the new graduate program briefly during the tour.
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