Posts Categorized: Regionalism

Welcome to the Post-Bachelor’s World

Lifelong learning and advanced credentials are increasingly critical for our economy ... The “war for talent” is accelerating in the U.S. job market, as private-sector payrolls recently posted their 77th consecutive month of growth. Notably, today’s economy is demanding professionals with higher levels of education, as evidenced by the very low 2.5% unemployment rate for adults with a bac...

E-to-E: Spanning Opportunity and Skills Gaps with Education-to-Employment Pathways

New England’s economy has improved, but economic opportunity and skills gaps contribute to slower growth in employment, income and social mobility than experienced in previous recoveries from recessions. With an aging population and relatively slow natural growth rates in the labor force, these gaps put the future of the New England economy at greater risk than that of other regions. There ...

Now the Views of the Vice Presidential Candidates on Higher Ed

A few weeks ago, NEJHE highlighted a brief bibliography of what's been said about the major presidential candidates' positions on higher education policy. Since then, both candidates introduced their running mates. Here are a few recent articles from various sources on the vice presidential candidates' positions on higher ed ... Tim Kaine Tim Kaine's Political Summary on Issue: Higher Educat...

Talking about Religion Matters

This past winter, one of my colleagues attended a higher education conference on diversity. She was pleased to learn that the conference facilitators had asked her to lead a discussion on religious diversity at the conference. She took her seat at the table at the appointed time and was preparing her materials when a conference participant approached her incredulously. “This conversation is abou...

Views of Presidential Candidates on Higher Education: A Brief Bibliography

Over the next two weeks, the two major U.S. parties will be pitching their platforms on issues facing Americans. It's a good time to learn more about their views on higher education and its connections to economic development. Much of the rhetoric has focused on ideas such as free college and combating student loan debt, as well as the candidates' involvement with for-profit higher ed outfits. Her...

Pecking Orders, Guns, Tracking and More from the NEJHE Beat

Pecking orders. Harvard and Cornell recently tied for the U.S. higher ed institutions that educate the most CEOs who run U.S. companies listed by Forbes in the top 100. We would often pore over such lists of where top CEOs went to college and meticulously note how many graduated from New England colleges. The predictable story was how many went to Harvard, Yale and MIT and how few went to New Engl...

Pushing Back on Higher Education as Trainer for High-Tech Jobs

NEBHE’s upcoming annual Leadership Summit scheduled for this coming October poses the question, “How Employable Are New England's College Graduates, and What Can Higher Education Do About It?” The Summit will address numerous well-chosen, commonly current questions in and around this topic, predicated on the assertion that “New England employers consistently claim that they can't find s...

Talking About Jobs, Trade and Neighbors to the North, Eh?

New England’s unemployment rate stood at 4.4% in April, compared with 5% nationwide, according to the spring 2016 outlook delivered last week by the New England Economic Partnership (NEEP) to 50 or so economists and others gathered at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. New Hampshire posted the second lowest unemployment rate in the U.S. at 2.6%. But all New England states are projected to ha...

Opportunity Turns 40

The New England Educational Opportunity Association (NEOA) drew more than 250 TRIO and college access professionals to its 40th annual conference in Massachusetts earlier this spring. NEOA's mission is to advocate for access to and success in postsecondary education for low-income individuals, “first-generation” college students, and students with disabilities—and to develop the...

Dualling Thomas: Maine College Helps Students Earn College Credit While in High School

Amy Lapierre sat on the bleachers at Thomas College in Waterville, Maine, adjusting the tassel on her cap. She was surrounded by graduates who are years older than her getting ready to line up, and she nervously peered through the crowd looking for her classmate, Reid Lanpher. On May 14, Lapierre and Lanpher, both 18 years old, marched for their associate degrees from Thomas. On June 12, they wil...