Providing education and training for students to pursue careers in the state’s high demand fields is one of UA’s roles. Of the 706 occupations included in the 2000-2010 Occupational Forecast from the State of Alaska Department of Labor ( http://www.labor.state.ak.us/research/trends/may03occfcst.pdf), 51 occupations were identified as high demand (i.e., classified as best bet occupations in Alaska, growing in the number of jobs available and having higher than average wages). Although dominated by the health-related occupations, the list of high demand job areas includes occupations as diverse as Computer System Analyst and Educators. The University awarded 2,056 degrees in FY05 in high-demand job areas, with an estimated 2,183 degrees awarded in FY06. An updated Occupational Forecast is due to be released later this year.

Increase the number of graduates and individuals participating in high demand job degree and certificate programs and course work for maintaining job currency.

The number of certificates and degrees (all levels) awarded supporting Alaskan high job demand areas is defined by the State of Alaska Department of Labor (DOL) during a fiscal year. The complete list of programs, maintained by SAC, considered to be in High Demand Job Areas can be found in Table 1.