Colorado's Future: Higher Ed
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A recent cover story by Time magazine, an essay in Newsweek, and an editorial in the British weekly the Economist all reaffirm one thing: America's position as the top of the world economic ladder is not guaranteed.
History is unkind to those who stop top to enjoy the view while on top. Just ask the British, Spanish, French, Dutch, and Romans.
Our economic competitors - China, India, and Europe - look at what makes America such an economic powerhouse and try to duplicate what they can. One area is education.
While America has 18 of the top 20 colleges in the world, this position is not guaranteed as our competitors build colleges and have a clear goal to create world-class institutions to directly compete with us.
Colleges and universities are incubators of new ideas, cutting edge research, and the training ground for professionals of all stripes. A strong higher education system (2-year and 4-year colleges) is critical for economic growth and a strong economy, which, in turn, fuels job development.
In Colorado, we need to focus our priorities on supporting public higher education. The passage of Referendum C is a start, but we have a long way to go.
Those of us who have lived in Colorado for a number of years have been through a few boom and bust cycles. While our economy has diversified to help mitigate the severity of those ups and downs, factors, economic development officials say more investment is needed in infrastructure (roads/mass transit, K-12, higher ed) in order to keep Colorado's economy on an even keel.
While Ward Churchill and the Boulder campus football program get all the attention, policy makers need to focus on:
• attracting and retaining Colorado's best and brightest young minds;
• expanding access to graduate and certificate programs for working adults;
• keeping and attracting world class faculty;
• helping Fitzsimmons become a biotechnology and medical research hub for the country;
• Have higher ed institutions partner with K-12 leaders to help increase Colorado's high school graduate rates.
To do anything less is not serving the people of Colorado.
History is unkind to those who stop top to enjoy the view while on top. Just ask the British, Spanish, French, Dutch, and Romans.
Our economic competitors - China, India, and Europe - look at what makes America such an economic powerhouse and try to duplicate what they can. One area is education.
While America has 18 of the top 20 colleges in the world, this position is not guaranteed as our competitors build colleges and have a clear goal to create world-class institutions to directly compete with us.
Colleges and universities are incubators of new ideas, cutting edge research, and the training ground for professionals of all stripes. A strong higher education system (2-year and 4-year colleges) is critical for economic growth and a strong economy, which, in turn, fuels job development.
In Colorado, we need to focus our priorities on supporting public higher education. The passage of Referendum C is a start, but we have a long way to go.
Those of us who have lived in Colorado for a number of years have been through a few boom and bust cycles. While our economy has diversified to help mitigate the severity of those ups and downs, factors, economic development officials say more investment is needed in infrastructure (roads/mass transit, K-12, higher ed) in order to keep Colorado's economy on an even keel.
While Ward Churchill and the Boulder campus football program get all the attention, policy makers need to focus on:
• attracting and retaining Colorado's best and brightest young minds;
• expanding access to graduate and certificate programs for working adults;
• keeping and attracting world class faculty;
• helping Fitzsimmons become a biotechnology and medical research hub for the country;
• Have higher ed institutions partner with K-12 leaders to help increase Colorado's high school graduate rates.
To do anything less is not serving the people of Colorado.
"They too are honorable men..."