
North Carolina colleges and universities are joining forces with a key Honduran university to educate and train thousands of students for the next generation textile workforce to meet a rising tide of nearshoring and onshoring in Honduras, Central America and the United States.
North Carolina State University, Gaston College and Catawba Valley Community College signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Honduran-based Central American Technological University (UNITEC) at a ceremony
at Gaston College in Dallas, N.C.
The groundbreaking initiative will launch a series of educational workforce development programs, ranging from training and certificate programs to undergraduate and graduate degrees, in textile-related areas of study.
The partnership comes at a defining moment for the U.S., Honduras and Central America, which are seeing historic levels of investment in textile and apparel production stemming from a global supply chain crisis that has driven a significant shift in sourcing out of Asia to the U.S. and the region.