In just the last two years, more than 16,000 Maine workers have lost their jobs because of the changing global marketplace, according to the Department of Labor. The state can shake its fist all it wants at the unfairness of world economics, but these valuable Maine citizens are more likely to need formal retraining and further education if they are to find good jobs. That makes the recent agreement between the Maine Technical College System and the Maine Adult Education Association a crucial bridge between a fading economy and jobs with a future.

The agreement, signed in late January by John Fitzsimmons, president of the technical – soon, to be community – college system, and Robert Wood, president of the adult-education association, expands on an already healthy working relationship. The two are a natural together. Just as the technical colleges daily prepare students to go on to four-year colleges, adult education prepares, often nightly, students of all ages to be successful at the technical colleges.

The new collaboration will bring students into what will feel more like a single system. Placement tests will be standardized, specific courses will look much the same statewide, the technical colleges will refer underprepared students to adult education, which will then refer students who are successful there back to the technical colleges. Tuition costs for students will drop as adult-education courses become seen as a realistic option for entry.

Nearly 1,500 Maine adults took academic transition courses through adult ed in fiscal year 2000-2001, according to Mr. Wood, in addition to those who earned their GED and expressed plans to go to college. That number, he says, could be tripled, which makes sense given that more than 90,000 adults in Maine lack a college degree but have expressed a high interest in going to college. Many of those adults do not go because they are not prepared to go; this collaboration acknowledges the need for much broader preparation and makes entry to college much easier and less expensive.

There is little Maine can do about the changing global market except know that it will keep changing. The number of jobs lost to foreign competition is just one reason among many for lowering the practical barriers to college and encouraging adults to return to classroom and help their careers. Making the transition from secondary to higher education seamless will strengthen Maine and build better careers here.