Skip to content Back to Top

State’S Avtec Vocational Training Program Achieves 94% Job Placements

Jul. 16, 2004
No. 05-05

SEWARD – The Alaska Vocational Technical Center (AVTEC) has achieved a 94 percent job placement rate for graduates, the best student hiring record since the state vocational training program began tracking employment performance in 1998.

AVTEC Director Fred Esposito said the 94 percent hiring level was achieved across the board among nearly 300 recent graduates receiving certificates of completion. Esposito also is the acting director of the Division of Business Partnerships that administers AVTEC in the Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Labor Commissioner Greg O’Claray said, “AVTEC’s outstanding success rate is a fine complement to Governor Frank Murkowski’s top priority of good jobs for Alaskans. And 94 percent-hire for vocational training graduates is not the only good job news.

“Of the 15 professional training disciplines offered in AVTEC, ten actually achieved 100 percent job placement referrals and success for these recent graduates.”

AVTEC was launched in 1969. To date nearly 31,000 graduates have completed vocational training with course work provided in 15 professional fields including Automotive, Business and Office, Diesel and Heavy Equipment and Information and Welding technologies.

AVTEC graduates also earn professional certificates in careers including Licensed Practical Nurse, Certified Nurse Assistant, Culinary Arts and Sciences, Facility Maintenance, Construction and Mechanical trades, Industrial Electricity, Merchant Mariner, Pipe Welding, Power Plant Operator and Web Application Developer.

AVTEC is nationally accredited by the Council on Occupational Education. Programs and schedules are coordinated with Alaska high schools with a specific goal of filling up to 80 percent of jobs in Alaska that do not require a college or university degree.

The AVTEC main campus is in Seward with additional training provided in Anchorage. Remote site training also is available through a distance-delivery program, and Internet classes are being developed.

The next scheduled AVTEC enrollment period is August 23 – September 13, 2004. Program tuitions range from $1,000 to $2,500 with financial and scholarship assistance available.

More than half of the AVTEC student population is generally composed of minority students with 27 percent Alaska Natives or American Indians. Women generally comprise 30 percent of the student body.

Successful AVTEC graduates may receive up to 23 credits toward associate or bachelor degrees at the University of Alaska. More AVTEC information is available on the program website at www.avtec.alaska.edu or toll-free at 1-800-478-5389.

* * * * * *

News Media Contacts:
Fred Esposito, Acting Director, Div. of Business Partnerships, 907.224.4159 or
Joe Holbert, Special Assistant/Communications, 907.465.5673

###