Higher ed comes to Burnsville
People in the south metro area soon will be able to earn university degrees closer to home, thanks to a new partnership between Concordia University, the city of Burnsville and a local school district.
Beginning in January, Concordia classes will be held in a remodeled shopping mall now owned by Independent School District 191, in the Heart of the City development in downtown Burnsville, Mayor Elizabeth Kautz said Monday.
Concordia, a private university in St. Paul, will offer two- and four-year degrees, as well as a master's degree in business administration.
"This is very important to our employers," said Kautz, who signed the deal last Thursday after working toward it for 2 1/2 years. "They have asked me to facilitate bringing this to Burnsville."
There are technical schools and community colleges offering two-year degrees in the south metro, but no universities in the immediate area. Concordia has 10 other off-sites, including in Rochester and Owatonna.
Randall Clegg, superintendent of the Burnsville-Eagan-Savage School District, said the city's recruitment of a university stands out.
"It's different in one respect in that the mayor and the Burnsville city staff have had a significant role in bringing this partnership to fruition," Clegg said. "The city staff and the mayor were seeing that this part of the metro area is underserved in terms of opportunities for higher education."
The city's strongest sector is in the medical field, but manufacturing, technical and service industries are key, too.
"Clearly, that's going to a driving force here -- being able to ensure that the business community has access to a well-trained and well-educated workforce," Clegg said. "We're hearing from business executives in some areas that they're having a hard time finding people with the educational background and qualifications for the type of jobs that they're offering."
It can be "a huge economic engine" to have local residents with the skills that companies want, he said.
Years ago, the old Diamondhead Mall was remodeled into classrooms for District 191's high school seniors, and it also provides multiple programming, including continuing education. But many classrooms sit empty at night. Concordia will lease some of them at $20 per class, which will cover basic operating costs such as heating, Clegg said.
Concordia will be flexible in course offerings, officials said. Degrees will be offered in marketing management, organizational management and leadership, informational technology, human resources management and criminal justice.
Groups of students called "co-horts" will go through programs together. Concordia has pioneered that concept, in which a learning group of students stays together for the duration of its accelerated degree program over 18 to 23 months.
"What we're all about is really embedding ourselves into communities, with corporate patterns, in which we co-create programs with them," said Craig Lien, associate dean of the College of Business and Organizational Leadership at Concordia.
The new partnership won't be exclusive to Concordia; other schools are welcome to come to the Diamondhead Learning Center.
Concordia is trying to serve people who want classes near home, Johnson said. But the Christian university is at the same time competing with a trend in which more colleges and universities are expanding their campuses to satellite locations -- a move that would go beyond the off-site offerings that Concordia will offer in Burnsville, she said.
"That's a pretty resource intensive approach, and it's just not an approach that makes sense for Concordia at this point," she said.
Other approaches
Others are taking different tacks to provide higher education.
In Chaska, a company called Metropolitan Lifelong Learning Center plans to erect classrooms as shells, line up higher education institutions as tenants to fill them, then customize the rooms for classes or lectures.
Lien, of Concordia, said in today's economy, a well trained and available work force is more important than ever to a community.
Kautz said employers and workers, who want to relocate in the city inevitably ask about schools, housing, amenities such as parks, and if there's a university. Firms want not only people with those degrees but also the opportunities for continuing education for employees, she said.
The flexible programs through Concordia will well serve employers and will help prepare, train and equip people for jobs in the 21st century, the mayor said.
"It's a lot closer to home," Clegg said. "Parking and access to a building here is going to be much more convenient than trying to find parking someplace else."
Officials are to announce more details today at a morning news conference at Burnsville City Hall.
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