Initiative aims to train workers LANSING (AP) - Too many Michigan students are heading off to college without considering the training they need to land high-paying jobs now going unfilled, the president of Ferris State University said yesterday. "While the state keeps talking about these 'gold-collar' jobs ... the students arriving on campus today are interested in psychology, they're interested in a liberal arts education," Ferris President William Sederburg said. Ferris State isn't complaining about the trend. It's recently added programs in elementary education to its engineering and technical programs. But Sederburg said students seem unaware that they could get just as much satisfaction and make just as much money - or even more - in high-tech manufacturing jobs that are a far cry from the dirty industrial shop floors of the past. To find out why students aren't getting the message, a new statewide initiative was unveiled yesterday. The Partnership for Career Decision-Making in Technologies and Health Sciences will survey high school students and their parents to find out how they're making career decisions. It also will ask business leaders what specific skills are critical for new employees in auto manufacturing and other fields and how higher education can prepare students for the jobs they have open. "This partnership will help us address a number of concerns critical to the state, including the need for more skilled workers in the fields of technology and health sciences," said Lt. Gov. Dick Posthumus, who is helping lead the partnership. "It's an important step in moving Michigan forward in the next two decades," he said. Ed Sarpolus of EPIC/MRA, a Lansing polling firm, said surveys are finding students aren't taking an interest in these fields, even though jobs are plentiful and pay well. "These are not menial jobs," he said. Part of the reason may be that the good economy allows students time to pursue more esoteric careers, rather than focusing on what kinds of jobs need workers, Sederburg said. Or it may be that parents don't realize that technology has changed manufacturing jobs for the better. Posthumus agreed. "Parents just haven't been brought up to speed on the changes in the marketplace," he said. "It requires high skills and a lot of technology and a lot of brain power." The partnership will focus through August on finding out how students make career decisions and what causes them to leave the state for jobs when businesses here an't get enough skilled workers. The results of its research will be published in a monthly newsletter, "Employability," beginning this spring. A career-resources Web site also is planned. Originally on page 3A in the 1-26-2000 issue of the Daily.