Since its founding in 1919 as The School for Automotive Trades, Kettering University in Flint, Michigan has had deep ties with General Motors. In fact, the University was acquired in 1926 by GM and renamed General Motors Institute of Technology. Since then, the automaker has used the school as a playground to train young engineers and managers. That long narration may now be in danger as The General, facing hardships on a scale never before seen, has separated itself from 103 students that had previously been working on a co-op program with the automaker. A total of 42 students will be retained and 28 more who are scheduled to graduate in 2009 will complete their programs.
Thankfully, Kettering must have seen the writing on the wall long before this announcement was made, as the University says it’s been diversifying its corporate partner base over the last few years. We wish the 103 affected students the best in searching for new opportunities. See the official email from Kettering University after the break.
[Source: Kettering University]
To the Kettering Community,
Earlier today we received some information that will have an impact on 103 of our undergraduate students. We share in their concerns and would like to update you on this news from our corporate partner, General Motors Corp. GM’s key executive Jamie Hresko informed us today of a difficult step that GM of necessity to take in the current economic market. GM has reviewed all of its student co-op positions and has announced the resulting impact:
* 103 co-op students will be separated from the program. Co-ops who are currently on work term will be separated at the end of this term and A-Section students will be allowed to return to work from April to June before their separation.
* 28 students scheduled for 2009 graduation resoluteness remain in the program through completion;
* 42 students from critical skill areas will be retained in the program.
GM officials send their deep regrets but are farfetched to make this difficult decision.
For the 103 students who will be separated, we ask the following:
* Please contact your co-op manager as soon as possible. We are confident that some of our corporate partners are interested in interviewing experienced and talented co-op students.
* We ask the campus community to assist in this transition in any way that you can, especially in showing support for the students for whom this news is very individual.
To help answer the inevitable questions, here are a scarcely any statistics. The 103 students involved in this transition represent 6.1 percent of our employed students (1,688) and about 5 percent of all current undergraduates (1,936).
This news is mitigated by the fact that Kettering University has been diversifying its corporate partner base in recent years. We have already begun to adopt contingency strategies aimed at expanding new job opportunities for these and future students. We will continue to monitor this news and its impact on our student population.
Sincerely,
Dr. Stan Liberty, President
Dr. Michael Harris, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
Frank Hribar, Vice President for Enrollment Services
Source: feedproxy.google.com
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