The group, called the Cluster Hub network, has received funding from the U.S. Department of Education to develop curriculum and training solutions to serve the medical device companies in each group member’s geographical area. The network’s eight member colleges are located in areas with a high concentration of medical device manufacturers, including the Twin Cities, Tampa Bay, Fla., Pittsburgh, Penn., Seattle, Wash., the Chicago-Milwaukee corridor, Galway, Ireland, and Hillereod, Denmark.

ARCC’s Continuing Education and Customized Training Division was selected to host the meeting, which was held June 2-4 on the Coon Rapids campus, because it has a proven track record of creating effective training for area medical device companies. In addition, among the eight member colleges, ARCC has the highest concentration of medical device manufacturers.

Expanding the training for careers in medical equipment manufacturing could have great impact on the nation’s growing bioscience industry, and on people seeking entry into the field. A new report released earlier this month by the Biotechnology Industry Organization indicates that of the 885,000 people employed in the biosciences sector nationally, 37 percent work in medical device firms, the largest sub-sector. Employment in drugs and pharmaceutical companies ranks second, at 33 percent.

ARCC is already working with a number of medical device manufacturers. The college’s Continuing Education and Customized Training Division has been developing specialized employee training for eight medical device companies: Possis Medical, Inc., Synovis Interventional Solutions, Transoma Medical, Boston Scientific/SCIMED, American Medical Systems, MedSource Technologies, OakRiver Technology, and CIMA LABS, Inc.

Through the experience gained building customized training for Possis and with the advice of other medical device companies, ARCC has also developed degree and certificate programs for biomedical technologists, biomedical technicians, and clinical research specialists.

“The opportunity to be a part of this national and international effort is of direct benefit to the college as we learn from the other participants about their programs and then share curriculum to design new programs or certificates,” says Rosie Mortenson, ARCC Dean of Continuing Education and Customized Training.

During the three-day meeting of the Cluster Hub network, attendees toured Possis Medical’s manufacturing facilities. They also met with ARCC faculty and students and area industry executives to learn more about their biomedical training curriculum.

Initially, the group members will create and implement training that meets the particular needs of local medical device firms. However, the goal for bringing the colleges together ultimately is to create consistent national and international curriculum for medical device industry training.

“Many medical device companies have several branch locations around the country and even in other countries,” says Jess Niebuhr, ARCC Director of Continuing Education and Customized Training. “They want to be able to know that there’s some consistency in the training their employees are getting.”

The group has already found some commonalities in the needs expressed by medical device industry professionals they surveyed. A needs assessment survey has demonstrated that training must be tailored to meeting the government regulations and international standards of the industry. Further work by the group will include focus groups of operational level professionals to pinpoint training needs of each firm.

“The curriculum we design won’t be identical for each school,” Niebuhr says. “But it will be designed to meet mutually agreed upon standards.”