RALEIGH – North Carolina’s community colleges will lead the state through the recovery from the coronavirus pandemic, the system’s president says.

Community colleges will not only retrain displaced workers – they will offer a path for high-school graduates and those seeking a career change, N.C. Community College System President Thomas Stith III says in the accompanying video.

“We compete globally,” Stith says. “The announcement with Apple – we’re not in competition with South Carolina. We’re in competition with the whole country and a global market. Apple can locate anywhere in the world, but they want to ensure they have a properly trained workforce.”

Similarly, Google recently announced an engineering hub in Durham – and about half the jobs at Google won’t require four-year degrees. 

“They’ll come from the community college system,” Stith says. “We have to have the talent in the classroom to help train and educate those individuals. Because that’s what the employers want to know – do we have the workforce in North Carolina to compete in a global manner?”