Riverland Community College will be part of a statewide “workforce assessment” initiative designed to increase postsecondary education in Minnesotans.

Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system officials announced a series of meetings with business and industry professionals across the state in April and May to gather information and project what types of skills and how many workers are needed in the state.

MnSCU Chancellor Steven Rosenstone described the initiative, which will consist of more than 40 meetings, as a “region by region, sector by sector assessment” of state workforce needs.

Rosenstone said this is “to make sure we have the right programs in the right place to meet Minnesota’s workforce needs going forward.”

MnSCU officials are working with local businesses, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development as part of the initiative. These meetings will focus on health care, information technology, manufacturing, engineering, energy and transportation jobs. Rosenstone said MnSCU officials plan to address agricultural jobs in the summer and financial services and insurance jobs in the fall.

Though Austin businesses won’t host any of the meetings, area businesses in Albert Lea, Owatonna and Rochester will host discussions on health care, information technology, manufacturing and energy jobs in southeast Minnesota.

“This aligns perfectly with the work we’ve been doing at Riverland,” said Riverland President Terry Leas.

Riverland officials will be present at some of the local meetings, but it will be up to MnSCU officials to collect input from businesses on what types of skills they need, what worker trends they see, and what problems MnSCU colleges and universities can solve.

“The key is that you want the employers to be dictating what their needs are to the college rather than the other way around,” Leas said. “It doesn’t make sense for the college to tell the employers what the employers need.”

Riverland is no stranger to the process, as college officials held a series of meetings with employers several years ago discussing similar needs. The DACUM, or Developing a Curriculum meetings, were designed so Riverland officials could get feedback to tailor their programs to get more workers jobs.

The process helped Riverland officials cap classes in the wind turbine technician program, as employers warned college instructors about graduating too many workers before wind energy jobs came to the area. The program remains one of the most popular programs at the college with a large waiting list of interested students.

“We were listening to our advisers for that sector, and they were telling us be careful you don’t flood the market,” Leas said.

MnSCU officials said the data they’ll gather at these meetings will go toward future recommendations and initiatives that will help tailor education needs for each region of the state, though it’s unclear whether programs will shift or shut down based on geographic location.