An automotive collision engineering training program is expanding this year to two more colleges, according to the car rental giant, as the collision repair industry adjusts to increasingly complex “connected” vehicles and grapples with a major technician shortage.
The Automotive Collision Engineering Pilot Program, funded by the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Foundation, launched in the fall of 2020 at Ranken Technical College in St. Louis and the College of Lake County in Grayslake, Ill.
Modeled on the Ranken effort, which so far has attracted a diverse group of more than two dozen students, the program expands this semester to Contra Costa College in San Pablo, Calif., and Texas State Technical College in Waco, Texas, according to a news release and an
Enterprise Holdings vice president.
All four efforts are part of a two-year pilot program that aims to attract more entry-level applicants to fill essential roles in the collision repair industry, and to boost retention and advancement among collision repair technicians, the release said.
As part of the two-year apprenticeship program, students work alongside industry experts at a participating employer while also earning an associate degree. Part of the student’s pay for the work completed at the shop is subsidized by the program. The program includes weeks of classroom/lab experience and weeks of full-day, on-site learning at a participating collision repair facility.
Several body shops, including independent operators and chains, as well as the Ford Certified Collision Network, are participating in the program and promoting the opportunity to host a student at their shops, the release said.
Nearly 80,000 additional collision technicians will be needed between 2020 and 2024, according to the TechForce Foundation, a nonprofit providing students with educational resources and scholarships for careers as transportation technicians. Even as demand for workers outpaces a declining supply of college-educated collision technician recruits, the rapid pace of vehicle innovation and connectivity is adding to the skills needed by technicians, who now must have expertise in car repair, technology and engineering.
The program is helping fill both the worker shortage and skills gap that exist in the industry, Aaron Schulenburg, executive director of the Society of Collision Repair Specialists said in a statement adding, “the opportunity for future technicians to build successful, well-paying careers in this industry is enormous.”
Information on the amount of money Enterprise is spending on the program was not immediately available.