Education Foundation - About the Education Foundation: News: 2003 Press Release

ROLLING MEADOWS, IL - December 16, 2003– I-CAR developed the Industry Training Alliance program to position Gold Class as an inclusive and universally recognized industry training standard. The Alliance eliminates training redundancy and reduces the time and expense of technical training. It also enables training organizations and career and technical schools and colleges to work together to provide the collision industry with a coordinated and comprehensive training curriculum.

November 21, 2001, the Education foundation issued a press release indicating that two graduates from UTI were the first to apply to I-CAR for course credit through the Industry Training Alliance on the pre-employment training side. As a follow up, students graduating from UTI starting June 9, 2003 (the program began July 2002) received 24 Gold Class points upon graduation. Previously, it was the responsibility of the UTI graduate or employer to pay the administrative fee to I-CAR to receive the Gold Class points. In the last 30 months, approximately 5,000 Gold Class points have been claimed by pre-employment graduates, most of them from UTI. Currently there are 36 schools that are members of the Alliance on the pre-employment side, including one in Canada. This value-added attribute of the UTI collision program graduate will enhance the individual’s appeal to the employer, saving them on the new-hire training expenses, and possibly enhancing the starting pay. Above all, and the main goal of the Alliance, is to eliminate redundant training. Additionally, the student may have also passed the Automotive Steel GMA (MIG) Welding Qualification Test (SWQT) and in the future the Automotive Aluminum Welding Qualification Test (AWQT) while attending classes at UTI. This is the first institution to offer this as part of the student’s tuition, and is being considered by other institutions.

Rick Jazwin, Director of Industry Development at UTI says, “With the increased awareness of the need for I-CAR training that is occurring in our industry, graduates of UTI’s CRRT program will have an extra tool in their tool box as they embark on their new career. Bringing 24 Gold Class prepaid points to their new employer certainly increases their value to both the employer and the industry.”

The Alliance recognizes training programs from training providers and career and technical schools and colleges participating in the program. Gold Class points can now be awarded to those students who receive technical training from Alliance members. These points apply to both the Gold Class Professionals and Platinum Individual programs.

I-CAR, founded in 1979, is an international, not-for-profit, training organization dedicated to improving the quality, safety and efficiency of auto collision repair for the ultimate benefit of the consumer.

		I-CAR Press Release (306K) in Adobe Acrobat Format

Acrobat Readers are available for Macintosh, DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, Windows NT, AIX, Silicon Graphics, HP-UX, SunOS, Solaris. Downloading Adobe Acrobat files

home

Page Last Revised: Wednesday, April 26, 2006
webmaster@i-car.com