Montgomery College Workforce Development Programs: Fueling Careers and Enriching Lives

Montgomery College's Workforce Development and Continuing Education (WDCE) programs serve as a vital resource for county residents and businesses, offering a diverse array of educational opportunities designed to meet evolving needs. Each year, over 25,000 students, including those navigating career transitions, re-entering the workforce, seeking to upgrade their technical skills, or simply pursuing lifelong learning, enroll in WDCE programs. With a comprehensive catalog boasting more than 2,000 courses offered year-round, individuals are sure to discover a course that aligns with their interests and goals.

A Broad Spectrum of Courses

WDCE offers high-quality noncredit courses spanning over 25 program areas. These encompass a wide range of subjects, including:

Information Technology: Providing training in essential tech skills for today's digital world.
Small Business and Management: Equipping entrepreneurs and managers with the knowledge and tools for success.
Technical Training: Offering hands-on training in various technical fields.
Certification and Licensure Preparation: Helping individuals prepare for professional certifications and licenses.
Financial Planning: Empowering individuals to manage their finances effectively.
Real Estate: Providing training for those interested in the real estate industry.
Child Care: Offering courses for child care professionals.
Health Sciences: Providing education and training for healthcare careers.
Personal Development: Helping individuals enhance their personal skills and well-being.
Career Development: Providing guidance and resources for career advancement.
Writing: Enhancing writing skills for various purposes.
American English: Improving English language proficiency.
Cultural Diversity: Promoting understanding and appreciation of diverse cultures.
Customer Service: Equipping individuals with excellent customer service skills.
Quality Management: Providing training in quality management principles and practices.
Leadership Development: Cultivating leadership skills for professional growth.

Diverse Program Areas

Courses are delivered through six distinct program areas:

Community Education and Extended Learning Services: Offers a wide range of courses for personal enrichment and community engagement.
Business, Information Technology, and Safety: Provides training in essential business, IT, and safety skills.
Gudelsky Institute for Technical Education: Focuses on technical education and training in areas such as automotive technology and building trades.
Health Sciences Institute: Offers courses and programs for healthcare professionals.
Community Arts: Provides opportunities for artistic expression and creative learning.
Adult ESOL and Basic Skills for College and Careers: Offers English language and basic skills instruction for adults.

These courses are conveniently accessible at the three Montgomery College campuses, as well as various community sites, including the Westfield South Center in Wheaton and the Business Training Centers in Olde Towne Gaithersburg. To accommodate diverse schedules, courses vary in length, offer flexible start dates, and are available during the daytime, evening, and weekends.

Customized Training for Businesses

Many WDCE noncredit courses are developed as customized training programs for business and community organizations. Contract training partnerships align the College's educational resources with the specific demands of the workplace, tailoring the training to meet each business partner's unique requirements.

Read also: Applying to Montgomery College

Convenient Online Learning

Montgomery College offers a diverse selection of noncredit online courses each month, open to everyone. These courses typically run for six weeks, with two lessons per week, covering topics such as:

Office Skills
Computer Skills
Digital Photography
Webpage Design
Personal Enrichment
Health Care Continuing Education
Career Skills

These online courses provide a flexible and accessible learning option for individuals with busy schedules.

Serving a Diverse Population

WDCE courses attract participants of all ages, educational backgrounds, and interests. The student body includes business professionals, health care providers, technicians, engineers, teachers, homemakers, students with prior degrees, and retired persons, reflecting the diverse fabric of the community.

Adult ESOL and Basic Skills Programs

The Adult ESOL and Basic Skills for College and Careers programs, supported by grants, offer a variety of English, basic skills, and vocational classes for immigrants, refugees, and those seeking a high school diploma. These classes are offered free of charge or at a reduced tuition rate.

Adult ESOL Program: Provides basic English language and life skills instruction to county residents whose native language is not English, with six levels of instruction and citizenship preparation classes offered at various times throughout the county.
Refugee Training Program: A grant-funded program offering classes in English for documented refugees and political asylees in the American workplace, basic life skills, computer literacy, and pre-vocational training in health care and other fields.
Work Plus! Program: Offers workforce readiness classes in Vocational ESOL courses such as ESOL for Healthcare Jobs, ESOL for Customer Service, ESOL for Building Trades Jobs, and ESOL for Education Professionals for students interested in preparing for employment and further training.
The College also offers integrated courses where students work on English and basic skills while simultaneously training to become a licensed geriatric nursing assistant, certified apartment maintenance technician, or an early childhood educator among others.
Literacy-GED Test® Preparation Program: Serves those who have not obtained a high school diploma and need to improve their literacy, writing, numeracy, and other content area skills in order to pass the GED® examination. The program also offers community orientations on the GED® test and program services.

To address the growing need for language training, WDCE offers a comprehensive range of English courses designed to help students whose native language is not English prepare for the English Language for Academic Purposes (ELAP) program or enhance their English proficiency for professional advancement.

Biotechnology Workforce Development

The biotechnology workforce development program caters to the needs of the county's expanding biotechnology industry. Courses are available to both scientists and the general public, covering topics such as basic biotechnology, laboratory skills, and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulatory compliance.

Customized Training Solutions

WDCE collaborates with numerous local businesses, governmental agencies, and community organizations to deliver training solutions that align with specific organizational goals. Existing course offerings can be tailored to focus on specific areas of interest, or new course material can be developed to address specific training requirements. Course length and content are determined by the training needs. Classes are typically held at a College location or at the organization's training or conference facilities. The College's full course inventory can be leveraged to meet workplace education and training needs, delivered through various learning formats, including onsite, web-based, intensive, or regular-length instructional programs. Technical assistance in developing customized course series may include focus groups, needs assessments, curriculum development, learning outcome assessments, and educational program design.

World Language Courses

WDCE offers affordable, dynamic noncredit courses in a variety of world languages, including Chinese, Farsi, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and American Sign Language. The primary objective of these courses is to rapidly develop communication skills in the target language, catering to diverse needs ranging from basic communication to advanced fluency. Contract classes and customized courses are also available to local businesses, government agencies, and community organizations.

Homer S. Gudelsky Institute for Technical Education (GITE)

To address the technical education and training needs of the workforce and the community, the Homer S. Gudelsky Institute for Technical Education (GITE) offers instructional programs in three core areas:

Automotive Technology: Including training in hybrid and electric car functions and service, is Master Certified by the National Automotive Technicians Education Foundation.
Building Trades Technology: Including training in solar and wind installation and service, is authorized by The North American Board of Certified Energy Practitioners. With this program the HVAC curriculum is certified by the Partnership for Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Accreditation.
Workforce Technologies:

GITE provides both credit and noncredit courses through classroom and lab training, on-site or off-site customized contract training, apprenticeship training, and long- or short-term training. A community benefit of GITE is the Fab Lab, where visitors can bring innovative ideas, develop creative projects, and build new items or technologies.

Health Sciences Institute

The Health Sciences Institute is dedicated to meeting the needs of health care providers in the metropolitan Washington area. It offers both noncredit and credit courses and programs of study in various health care careers. These courses and programs provide individuals with workforce skills, certification in specific disciplines, and associate degrees in an array of health sciences. Customized courses and programs, training courses, seminars, and specialty workshops are available. Experienced faculty, from the College or from the local community of health care providers, participate to develop the workforce for the health care community.

Hispanic Business and Training Institute (HBTI)

The Hispanic Business and Training Institute (HBTI) was established as a collaborative effort between the College, Montgomery County Department of Economic Development, and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Montgomery County. HBTI offers a variety of training programs in small business, home improvement licensure, OSHA safety training, computer applications, food safety certification, legal assistant, and occupational Spanish.

Information Technology Institute (ITI)

In response to the demand for skilled information technology workers, the College established the Information Technology Institute (ITI). ITI offers noncredit courses at all three College campuses as well off-campus centers in Gaithersburg and Wheaton. ITI is designed to prepare new workers and retrain existing workers to fill positions in Montgomery County’s information technology market. The College is a member of the Microsoft IT Academy, Oracle Academic Initiative, Oracle Workforce Development Program, and Cisco Systems Networking Academy.

Project Management Training

Montgomery College’s WDCE Department is a Global Registered Education Provider by the Project Management Institute (PMI). Courses in a variety of project management topics prepare individuals for new roles in project management and also prepare them for the PMI certifications, including the nationally and internationally recognized Project Management Professional certification.

SAT/ACT Preparation

WDCE offers a preparation program to high school students and anyone preparing to take the SAT and/or ACT. They are comprehensive, short-term, affordable courses that review content skills and provide extensive timed practice with real sections of the SAT or ACT. Classes are held primarily on the College campuses after school, evenings, and weekends. Courses are offered during the summer and prior to six testing dates during the school year.

Lifelong Learning Institute

The Lifelong Learning Institute offers many courses primarily designed for county residents age 50 or older. The Institute provides affordable, relevant, and dynamic learning opportunities conveniently held at campus and community locations. The Lifelong Learning Institute is committed to creating and fostering a variety of intellectually stimulating opportunities in the arts, humanities, lifestyle, and personal finance areas. The College is growing a series of courses related to employment preparation and repositioning.

Youth Programs

WDCE Youth Programs offers specialized and enrichment programs throughout the school year for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. These programs are offered in special one-day enrichment workshops, after-school and Saturday mini-courses, and a comprehensive nine-week summer program. Many programs are collaborative efforts with Montgomery County Public Schools.

Programs for Students with Disabilities

WDCE offers noncredit programs for students with developmental and intellectual disabilities, including the Graduate Transitions Program (GTP) and the Challenge Program.

Graduate Transitions Program (GTP): A certificate program designed for students with developmental and intellectual disabilities who want to pursue postsecondary education. GTP offers a custom-tailored learning community enabling students to transition to greater independent living through functional education, vocational and employment training, and life skills.
Challenge Program: A collection of courses designed to help adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities function more independently in the home, at work, and in the community.

Admissions and Registration

The Admissions and Registration section of this catalog describes the procedures for enrolling in noncredit WDCE courses. The registration fee and tuition for WDCE courses and other offerings are determined periodically by the vice president for WDCE.

Career Resources

Looking for job skills or the right career path? may lead to industry certification or licensure.

Career Coach: Discover majors and in-demand careers and education based on your interests! a Career Assessment and then browse careers and job opportunities in the area.
Career Resources and Employment Skills for 50+ Learners: Are you looking for employment and work skills to help you get a job? to upgrade or enhance your work skills? and resources for age 50+ Learners can help.

Looking for job skills and a career path? has many courses to help you on your way to a successful career. Check out the WDCE Brochure of Classes.

Online Noncredit Courses

Don't have time to come to campus? your schedule and your budget? a wide variety of affordable noncredit online courses that may fit your needs. and Continuing Education students. spanning the sciences and the arts. Are you in a career transition? technical skills? Maybe you are just looking for personal knowledge enrichment? of these types are among our 25,000 noncredit students each year. Spring 2026. monthly and run for 4-6 weeks and are available 24/7. tailored to your company’s specific needs. customized to suit your needs. Are you looking for a class to update your work skills? that can be as short as a few days, or a week or two. These classes can enhance your business or technical skills. for you to learn something new, or gain industry certifications. credit classes are co-listed with noncredit. Not quite sure what career path to take? to explore career options and provide options to further your career. to continue with noncredit courses leading to industry certifications. find that applying to MC as a degree seeking student is better for you. Community Education enrichment courses are for everyone in the community. finance, and more.

Locations

Center (GBTC), and at various other locations throughout Montgomery County.

By CarFrom the South:Take I-495 to I-270 North. Bear right onto Route 355 heading north. Go approximately 1.5 miles. Summit Avenue. Go about 0.1 miles and turn left onto Olde Towne Avenue. From the North: Take I-270 South to Exit 11 (Montgomery Village Avenue). off the ramp onto Montgomery Village Avenue. Turn right at second traffic light. approximately 1.5 miles. Turn left onto Summit Avenue. left onto Olde Towne Avenue.
By MetroStudents can get here by Metro Red line to Shady Grove Station. on Rt. 355, get off the bus at Summit Avenue. City Hall.

Creating a MyMC Account

your Montgomery College ID number (M#). your account as a WDCE student. Follow the instructions: New Student, How to Create a MyMC Account (PDF, ) . You will initially create a temporary login id and pin for web admissions only. in the process after you create your security questions, a NEW MyMC login ID and Pin will be issued to you once you are admitted. If you already have the crn# for your class(s) and just want to register, click on Student, then Register, Add/Drop Classes. class. Click on Payment Information to pay by credit card.

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