Interview: Frederick Keating

Frederick Keating

President Rowan College of South Jersey

How is Rowan College of South Jersey preparing for the emerging wind industry?

We’ve recently submitted the application, alongside competition throughout the region, to become the workforce training center for the wind industry. We’re trying to anchor our position in the WIND Institute of New Jersey to capture a piece of the emerging industry. We feel that our application has substantial promise of being accepted, thanks to the industry and educational advantages available in our region. We have the port in Paulsboro and the EEW-Ørsted manufacturing facility in our area, so we are in the heart of the geography. We’re now shifting our career tech division to match the workforce demand of the trades in the wind industry.

How can the higher education sector collaborate?

We’re all chasing each other, which is a mistake. There should be consolidation of effort geographically and academically. We could do it through niche programming by demand of the area. If there was consolidation in the South Jersey education system, we would become one-stop shopping for incoming students. New Jersey’s education model is still very singular, unlike other states such as Florida and California, and I think that’s our shortcoming.

What is your near-term outlook?

The higher education sector is shifting. There will be more regionalization and mergers. Four-year universities will be joining together, two-year colleges will also be merging, as well as two and four years. I hope guidance for this idea of a new landscape is forthcoming. South Jersey is going to be in a unique situation because we have quality but lack quantity. We have to do more to increase seat capacity. We can do that through developing online campuses as well as upper-level master’s, graduate and doctoral-level programs. Over the next year and a half or so, the higher education system will be determining whether we can do more regionally in South Jersey as a conglomerate or consortium.

Forty percent of New Jersey residents have a bachelor’s degree or higher.

( ) year can cost up to $45,000), schools will continue facing tough choices moving forward. Furthermore, these tough choices come in the face of dissatisfaction among the student body: students are wondering why they should be paying full fees if they are only receiving half of the college experience, since many are at home and missing out on campus life.

At the K-12 level, there was similar pressure placed on schools as a result of lockdown measures: this resulted in overburdened parents seeking a private education for their children, rather than enduring another semester of remote classes.

In response, schools have been quick to point out that, not only have their operating costs remained the same, in many cases they have had to increase their spending on both digital infrastructure for students who are not on campus and for cautionary safety measures for students who are. Testing had to be introduced at campuses, as did sanitary stations and the requisite infrastructure to maintain social distancing. To address dissatisfaction among the student body, some schools have reduced fees by up to 15%.

That said, remote education most certainly has a future. For many students, it has made the learning experience easier. It increases the ability to be more flexible in one’s learning, helping students who are working or who are engaged in full-time care. As well,