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Vermont's Educational Opportunities

Education is important to your business. High-quality education provides a skilled work force, and it enables your workers to gain new skills as your business develops and grows. Educational excellence is also vital to employees who want their children to grow up with the advantages a good education brings.

A key component of the Vermont education program is the widespread system of vocational-technical facilities. There are 16 technical education centers within the state -- there is one within a 30-minute drive of most Vermont residents. Offering a broad range of classes, courses are open to both adult and high-school-aged students. The centers serve about 4,700 secondary students and 13,500 adults per year.

Overseen by an active business committee, these centers are very responsive to businesses. The centers can assess the educational needs of your work force and offer programs to fill those needs.

One program that may be of interest to manufacturers is the Vermont Manufacturing Extension Center (VMEC). VMEC provides one-on-one assistance and training to help Vermont's approximately 2,000 small and medium-sized manufacturers (under 500 employees) increase their productivity, modernize processes, introduce new technologies, reduce costs, and improve their competitiveness.

For information on Vermont's quality universities, such as the University of Vermont and other state colleges, click here.