The Minnesota State Colleges and University System has embarked on a mission to do what we wish more government organizations would do: research the markets for their services and then come up with programs and products to serve those markets.

While the system has implemented several programs over the years to respond to training needs of business and in particular manufacturing, that has not really been implemented across the system’s dozens of universities, community colleges and technical schools.

The new effort is being pushed by incoming Chancellor Steven Rosenstone, who has so far taken a no-nonsense approach to implementing the plan. Already the system has surveyed companies about their needs and conducted some 30-plus listening sessions around the state to hear from employers.

They had one in Mankato a few weeks ago.

The listening sessions are important because employers can give more details about what they need, job trends and the like that aren’t easily discernible in a survey. Nursing students, for example, may need education and training in dealing with the elderly population that is coming their way.

They may find out that not only does manufacturing need workers schooled in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM), but that there is a shortage of STEM teachers as well.

MnSCU’s market-driven approach is the largest data collection gathering the institution has done in this area in some time. Rosenstone says the institution needs to move quickly when they find out the results, and there are long-term and short-term implications.

Employers also told MnSCU at a session in Minneapolis that they need faster turn-around on training programs with some programs only two years, or even better, a few weeks and conducted at workplace locations.

Rosenstone said it’s also becoming clear that students may need to get on career training tracks earlier, even in high school.

There are critics of the plan who argue it’s a huge subsidy for corporations for MnSCU to do their training for them, and that’s not what public education should be about. They argue corporations could get enough trained workers if they paid them higher wages.

All are legitimate arguments, but Rosenstone counters that letting the market decide in this way would simply force employers to go to another state that was providing graduates who were more work ready. He also argues that those who attend an MnSCU institution have a reasonable expectation that they will be trained for a job that is in demand and with skills that are needed.

The challenge for MnSCU, of course, will be getting a large and sometimes slow moving institution to serve the market of businesses whose technology, processes and own markets may be changing very quickly.

Still, the effort to gather data that will help MnSCU make decisions for programs can only serve students better and give taxpayers more value for their dollar.