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MassBay gets $34 million in software from Siemens

As companies across the state add more manufacturing jobs than there are workers to fill them, Massachusetts Bay Community College announced that it has received a donation of sophisticated software worth $34 million to help train and prepare students for positions in the growing sector.

The donation is part of a collective $660 million worth of software doled out last month to 13 Massachusetts technical and vocational schools, including six higher education institutions, by engineering and electronics conglomerate Siemens Corp. to be used for training future manufacturing workers. The contribution is the largest of its kind given to the state, according to officials at MassBay, which has campuses in Wellesley Hills and Framingham, and an automotive technology facility in Ashland.

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“Our students will now have access to the same software used across the automotive, medical, and high-tech industries to build some of the world’s most sophisticated products,” said MassBay president John O’Donnell.

Manufacturing companies in Massachusetts are projected to fill more than 100,000 jobs in the next decade, through a combination of new positions and replacing retiring workers, MassBay officials said.

The software grants will help give students an edge as they look for jobs, they said.

“It is important that our students gain the skills to stay competitive in this growing and changing industry,” said Chitra Javdekar, MassBay’s dean of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The software will provide them with access to cutting-edge technology, such as product life-cycle management, that “the advanced manufacturing industry demands,’’ he said. “We are all very excited about the opportunities this software provides our students.”

Siemens software is in use by nearly 150 companies throughout the state, including Reebok, Textron, and Raytheon, MassBay officials said in a statement on the donation.


Jaclyn Reiss can be reached at jaclyn.reiss@globe.com.