"We are doing this to help alleviate the critical shortage of teachers here in Hawai'i and on the Mainland," said HPU President Chatt Wright yesterday at the state Capitol, where he announced the university's first foray into teacher training.

Of 1,600 new teachers hired by the state Department of Education last year, only 40 percent came from Hawai'i programs, Wright said.

HPU expects to contribute 100 teachers a year to the pool starting with its first graduating class in 2006.

However, the University of Hawai'i has had difficulty finding enough applicants for a similar program, and even adding 100 teachers to the approximately 600 produced in Hawai'i annually will still be less than half of what the state needs.

Still, the state's superintendent of education, Pat Hamamoto, said she is grateful the DOE will have another place to "shop" for teachers. "You've opened another store for us," she said. "We want choices."

After starting this school year short 357 teachers, the DOE is making do with about 200 long-term substitutes, according to the Hawai'i State Teachers Association. "That definitely has an impact on student achievement," said Roger Takabayashi, president of the teachers union.

Currently five Hawai'i institutions are graduating prospective teachers: UH-Manoa, UH-Hilo, Brigham Young UniversityiHawai'i, Chaminade University and the University of Phoenix.

UH, which also has programs aimed at working professionals, has struggled to fill those programs, even when the costs of tuition are covered.

At HPU, the state's largest private university, tuition will be about $10,000 a year, but scholarships will be available.

HPU expects to attract students with flexible class times that don't conflict with regular work hours, as well as current technology and more opportunities for field work than other programs.

"We'll work with as many students as possible," said Leslie Correa, dean of liberal arts.