Why Do We Need ORAU?
"In an increasingly technological society, the nation's educational system must be flexible to help workers meet new challenges," Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said.
June 20, 2001, Associated Press
The many benefits expected from ORAU include:
- Standardizing compliance training on a national level,
- Enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of training,
- Increasing training flexibility and convenience, and
- Reducing direct and indirect costs of training.
ORA will continue to present face-to-face training courses, but in order to meet increasing demands for training with decreasing budgets, new methods of presenting training must be explored. Distance learning allows government agencies and industries to cost-effectively disseminate the most current technical and regulatory information on an as-needed basis. Distance learning is not really a new concept. United States colleges offered the first distance learning courses in the mid-1800s to people in remote areas. In the new millennium, there is a far greater need for distance learning.
Traditional classroom training reaches a limited number of regulators due to budget constraints, workload, and limited seating capacity. The online training portions of ORAU will complement current training procedures, not replace them. ORAU is merely an umbrella organization to bring all of ORA's training initiatives together.
Centralized training that is standardized at a federal level and available across the entire country will result in better-trained regulatory personnel and safer food and drugs for all Americans.