President Barack Obama unveiled an $8 billion community college plan today to a crowd at Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Va.

He said the plan would increase partnerships between community colleges and businesses, and result in training up to 2 million people for jobs directly out of college in high-growth and high-demand industries.

In a conference call today, Cecilia Munoz, director of the White House Domestic Policy Council, elaborated on details of the plan, calling it necessary to President Obama’s plan to “create an economy built to last.”

“The Obama administration believes education is not a luxury but an economic imperative anyone should be able to afford,” Munoz said.

She went on to say the Obama administration is creating the Community College to Career Fund as a means to incentivize businesses to hire local students after they complete their academic training.

The fund will be co-administered by the Department of Labor and the Department of Education and will help fill large gaps of skilled labor and open positions.

In the conference call, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan said that we must educate our way to a better economy and not cut spending. He said this portion of the budget demonstrates Obama’s commitment to higher education.

“President Obama started this fund to specifically train and place 2 million workers, which will help fuel the economic recovery,” Duncan said.

In addition, $69.8 billion is allocated for education reforms in the 2013 budget, which will help support paid internships for low-income college students, Duncan said.

The newly formed plan will also give more than 500,000 high school students the credentials they need to be more competitive when they enter college through training made available in this plan, Duncan said.

“America’s future is only as strong as the industries we create and grow,” Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said during the conference call. “We need to foster new skills to match the new challenges we face in our 21st century economy.”

The administration thinks it is unacceptable that there are millions of open positions in the science and engineering fields while Americans face an 8.3 percent unemployment rate, Duncan said.

Solis said these facts are why Obama has a goal for America to have the highest percentage of college graduates in the world by the year 2020.

“We project one million new open positions in the science, math and engineering industries in the next 10 years,” Solis said. “These people will make on average a half million more dollars in lifetime than others in different majors.”

Obama is focusing on technical training as an outcome of this $8 billion fund. He sees community colleges functioning more like community centers, where anyone can learn new skills and apply them immediately, Solid said.

Local governments can also apply for federal grants, which will be administered through the $8 billion fund. Obama hopes this will incentivize employers to hire United States citizens instead of outsourcing labor, according to the call.

The administration and the Department of Labor will closely monitor progress to ensure students complete programs and there is a measure of success, said Jane Oates, assistant secretary of Employment and Training Administration, during the conference call.

“With these programs, we will ensure that the partnership with employers are real and we’re going to make sure employers are involved in creating the programs so when people complete them, the employers will be excited to hire them,” Oates said.