Industry Demand Pushes Schools To Keep the Numbers Up
"There is a lot of concern in industry for both civil and construction management firms," says Ken Williamson, department chair at Oregon State Universitys college of engineering, in Corvallis. "Companies want to have a little better guarantee of their future work force."
As the economy declined several years ago, OSUs intern level dropped, from more than 300 to about 200. Now that firms are hungry for new hires, the intern supply has climbed to 280 and the college expects it to continue rising, says Chris Bell, OSUs associate engineering dean.