University giving is critical to closing the workforce gap

Tom Hefner

Earlier this month, Purdue University held its first "Boilermaker Ball" at the Indianapolis Convention Center to celebrate progress on an ambitious fundraising effort — the $1.5 billion Campaign for Purdue. Gifts from the Indianapolis area already total more than $200 million, which will fund new faculty, scholarships, research projects, outreach efforts by students and more.

As a Purdue alum, I’m proud of what my University is accomplishing, and I’m supporting the campaign myself. But as Purdue highlights its Indianapolis effort, we should also look at the big picture: the proper role for the private sector in higher education — and a looming crisis that threatens our economy.

The Indiana General Assembly just approved a biennial budget that basically flatlined appropriations for public universities. While not sufficient, it’s better than many states, where university operating budgets have seen across-the-board cuts. More than 30 states (including Indiana) face significant budget deficits, and higher education has been on the chopping block along with most other government expenditures.

Unfortunately, these austerity measures are coming at a time when higher education should be commanding more resources than ever before. Over the next 20 years, an estimated 46 million highly educated ‘Baby Boom’ workers will retire. At the same time, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects more than a 20 percent increase in demand for workers with a postsecondary education. Doing the arithmetic, we face a deficit of more than 12 million skilled workers.

For Indiana, which has ranked consistently among the worst states in terms of educational attainment, the crisis is even more dire — and threatens to derail our ambitions of building a knowledge-based economy geared towards the life sciences, advanced manufacturing and information technology.

And as we falter, the rest of the world is striding ahead. Countries like India and China are producing more and more top-notch scientists and engineers. These individuals no longer have to immigrate to the United States to reap the rewards of their talents: Thanks to the international telecommunications infrastructure and corporate outsourcing trends, jobs now go where the talent is — even if it’s a remote corner of the globe. We’d do well to heed the recent words of Bill Gates:

"I’m terrified for our workforce of tomorrow. In 2001, India graduated almost a million more students from college than the United States did. China graduates twice as many students with bachelor’s degrees as the U.S., and they have six times as many graduates majoring in engineering. In the international competition to have the biggest and best supply of knowledge workers, America is falling behind."

Microsoft, by the way, has operated a research center in Beijing to recruit and employ the best Chinese engineering and science students since 1998.

In the face of this challenge, we can’t withdraw from the global market — protectionism isn’t the answer. The only way to succeed is to drive ourselves to become more competitive: the United States needs to make significant investments in education at every level — no less than a nationwide Marshall Plan to rebuild our edge in workforce and innovation capacity.

Unfortunately, this brings us back to the reality of state budget shortfalls and their negative impact on higher education budgets. But if the necessary dollars don’t come from the public sector, they have to come from somewhere–and the private sector has a huge stake in keeping the U.S. workforce competitive. Where public resources are lacking, private gifts are helping fill the gap. In 2004, companies and individuals gave $24.4 billion to U.S. colleges and universities, supplying much-needed funds for student aid programs, capital expansions, faculty endowments and more.

Proceeds from the Campaign for Purdue, for example, will help fund Science Bound, a Purdue program that encourages Indianapolis Public School students to prepare for careers involving math and science and provides full scholarships to those who complete the program. Already more than 160 IPS students are involved, and this spring Purdue will offer the opportunity to 100 more. The campaign will also fund Purdue Opportunity Award scholarships, which provide a full first-year scholarship and up to $2,500 for the sophomore year for a student who is facing a personal hardship or needs help to overcome extenuating circumstances. At least one student in every Indiana county receives the scholarship annually. As we begin the second year of the program, Marion County will be home to 10 Purdue Opportunity Award scholars.

Preparing our young people to succeed in tomorrow’s economy takes a collaborative effort. While we hope that government will make the right investments in higher education, the private sector also has a role to play. We must support all of Indiana’s institutions of higher learning to build a strong workforce and prepare for tomorrow’s economy. Efforts like the Campaign for Purdue showcase the kind of pragmatic philanthropy that’s critical if we’re to remain a leader in the global economy.

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