1. Automotive Systems Degrees at NC Community Colleges
Moses Ifamose
North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center
Introduction
North Carolina has 58 public community colleges located across the state and each one offers a multitude of varying
degrees. Community colleges can either be a gateway into a four year college or a way for you to get the certificate you
need for your job. For people who work in or are interested in the automotive industry, it is important to know which
schools offer automotive degrees and certificates that can assist you with your education and your career. According to
the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, North Carolina is among the tops states that employ automotive technicians. Since
the demand for the profession is high in North Carolina, it is important to provide new or returning students with the
opportunities and resources to help them get an automotive technician degree. The purpose of this poster was to find out
which North Carolina community colleges offered automotive degrees, what kind of certificates they offered, what kind
of classes they offered and how many of them offered classes on clean transportation.
Methods
In order to accomplish my task, I needed to collect data on the community colleges. I needed to find out which schools
offered Automotive Systems degrees, how many certificates they offered, what type of certificates they offered and how
many of them included clean transportation courses. I did this by searching through their websites and in a lot of cases,
calling the schools and talking to the program instructors, to get the information that I needed. I tallied the collected data
in an Excel sheet so that I could compare the community colleges to one another.
Results
The results showed that 41 out of 58 public community colleges provided automotive systems degrees to students, some
of which offered variants of the degree. Most schools offered about the same number and type of classes with only a
couple schools offering a single 3 credit course in sustainable transportation. Most of the degrees are in the form of
Associate degrees, diplomas and certificates, creating a wide array of options for people who are interested in automotive
systems technology. Although clean transportation is an ever increasing part of the transportation sector, it does not get as
much attention as it deserves. In the map below, the counties marked in blue offer automotive technician degrees and the
counties marked in yellow offer automotive technician degrees and at least one course in clean transportation.
Conclusion
While a good number of schools offer an automotive technician degree, not that many offer classes on sustainable
transportation. This can pose a problem because the people of North Carolina will not be encouraged to buy an alternative
fuel vehicle if there is no one in the state that has the technical skills to fix and maintain alternative fuel vehicles. This in
turn can cause businesses like Tesla and even the state of North Carolina to lose money in an ever expanding
technological sector. There are many ways to tackle this issue and one of the ways could be to encourage vehicle
manufacturers to train community college teachers on maintaining alternative fuel vehicles. The teachers can in turn train
the students who will become better skilled technicians and this will allow the vehicle manufacturers to sell more cars in
North Carolina, allowing them to make more money while also providing more jobs and more skilled professionals in
North Carolina and ultimately encouraging more people to purchase alternative fuel vehicles, hence taking North
Carolina one step closer to becoming a clean energy state.
Sources:
* U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
With a focus on Clean Transportation