IBEX to host next COMITT

ANNAPOLIS, Md.; BROOKLIN, Maine and CHICAGO – The fourth Conference on Marine Industry Technical Training will be held in conjunction with the 2008 International Boatbuilders’ Exhibition and Conference, COMITT organizers reported in a release yesterday.

Members of the Marine Industry Technical Education Council, which oversees COMITT, say they have decided to capitalize on the success of this February’s COMITT by following-up with a full-day offering as an IBEX pre-conference. The program will take place at the Miami Beach Convention Center on Sunday, Oct. 5.

In addition, MITEC will be responsible for six workforce development seminars during IBEX, which will be held Oct. 6 – 8.

“Holding a pre-conference event and developing a group of seminars with IBEX will help us continue the momentum that was established at the February event,” said Steve Kitchin, MITEC chairman and vice president, Corporate Education and Training at New England Institute of Technology. “It will also give us the opportunity to report out on the progress we have made towards our goals. Our hope is that the pre-conference meeting and seminars will bring even more attention to the marine industry’s workforce development issues and reach a wider audience – all while helping to spread the MITEC mission.”

“We are delighted to have COMITT and MITEC become a part of IBEX this year. It is a natural fit,” said Carl Cramer, publisher of Professional BoatBuilder magazine and show co-director of IBEX. “Education, communication and training have always been major components of our company philosophy, and we look forward to helping spread the word about MITEC at this event.”

As well as producing COMITT, MITEC has an ambitious agenda for the next year, starting with a Needs and Skills Analysis to pinpoint exactly where the workforce shortages in the marine industry are and what kind of skills training is needed.

The group’s second priority is to develop a report on the requirements to create an accreditation system for post-secondary marine-training programs. And the third is to create a coordinated communications plan for educators, state employment agencies and the marine industry.

MITEC is focusing its efforts on programs designed to help marine-industry businesses recruit and retain marine-industry employees, and to address a workforce shortage that has become a severe problem in the industry.

“All of these projects will have a direct impact on the top three problems voiced by COMITT attendees,” said Kitchin, “and we are charged and ready to move forward.”

Details on the COMITT pre-conference event and IBEX seminars will be forthcoming. For additional information on COMITT, visit www.comitt.org. To learn more about the Marine Industry Technical Education Council, please visit www.boatingcareerinfo.org.

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