I recently read about another state's concern over their "brain drain". They defined it as when high school graduates leave the state for college and not return. College can be found less expensive in other states with the same quality of education found in-house.
College tuition has been skyrocketing for a long time, much faster than the rate of inflation. Does expensive automatically mean excellence? It must mean something because many institutions are doing just that.
"Brain drain" for my state means when college graduates decide to leave the state and not stay for employment. My state is concerned the brightest will not stick around to supply employers with needed skilled workers or be the next generation of inventors elsewhere.
One of the questions employers are wondering about is whether or not college is preventing those who could be part of the academic to business pipeline because of the education cost/debt. Graduates in their twenties have thousands of dollars to pay off during their first years of their chosen career. Does that make some young people shy away from furthering their education even though they could be successful in the classroom? It has to be.
We then still have the problem of employers talking about open, unfilled positions due to lack of qualified applicants. There are other facets to this question. This blog is only dealing with the education one.
Unless and until education and business have more dialog and partnerships, working together because they understand the panoramic view first, then details won't be forth coming. People have to be at the table from both sides willing to trust each other because they already have one thing in common. They understand they need to find a way for young people to have an environment of success, innovation, and respect in order to stay and keep the community alive. The rest can be worked out.
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