Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College president Dr. Mary S. Graham signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Houston Community College, San Jacinto Community College and Jones County Junior College for Upstream/Midstream Middle Skills Workforce Training and Safety Collaboration for oil industry personnel on Monday, Feb. 1 during a teleconference with presidents at each of the other colleges. The agreement is effective through Feb. 1, 2021.

“The mission of the collaboration is to provide entry-level training for South Mississippi residents in the upstream and midstream oil and gas industry and to provide that industry with the most qualified technically trained individuals,” Graham said. “It could eventually allow individuals to pursue higher levels of skill mastery for upward mobility.”

Working as a consortium, four community colleges will address workforce needs by utilizing successful models already developed by members of the group and pool resources, providing advantages to the consortium in advertising, implementing training, and other resources.  They will collaborate to create, develop, and produce products or services for use by the groupincluding instructional materials; laboratory specifications; career pathway information; best practices infograms; conferences, workshops and seminars and other professional development; best practices for student recruitment, retention and placement; models for company-wide student internship programs; student competitions and informational databases. The consortium will be aided by an Industry Advisory Council that will advise them on workforce needs of the oil and gas industry and current/future industry trends.

While the domestic oil and gas industry has seen a decline in the last few years, there are still more than 90,000 Mississippi jobs provided either directly or indirectly by the oil and gas industry in the state. Out-of-state oil and gas industry companies also employ many Mississippians. The average oil and gas industry salary in the state is more than $45,500 annually, significantly higher than the state and national average income.  Plus, the average annual non-gas station oil and gas industry salary in the state is $76,493 and the average annual upstream (extraction and production) salary is more than $80,000.

“As part of the consortium MGCCC will be able to provide the best industry training and resources for residents of South Mississippi in an industry that provides excellent pay and career opportunities,” Graham said.