Q&A: Eric Fingerhut explains higher ed's critical role in the new economy
Gene Monteith
Thursday, January 28, 2010
It once was possible for Ohioans to graduate from high school and transition immediately into the workforce, where good-paying factory or farm jobs promised a lifetime of relative security. No more. Ohio's new economy demands a new kind of worker, more specialized training and, more often than not, a college degree or certificate. hiVelocity asked Eric Fingerhut, Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, how Ohio is aligning its university system with Ohio's shifting economy.
Ohio's going through this transition of industry and the types of workers we're going to need. What's the most important thing you're doing to align the university system with those changing needs?
We know every business in Ohio has to compete in the global marketplace, which means they have to have workers who can equal or exceed any workers in the world in products and creativity and also to collaborate with partners all over the world. Secondly, we know that the makeup of businesses and industry is always changing. And the key is that we want the new innovations, the new products and services that consumers all over the world want to buy, to be invented in Ohio and then made in Ohio. And for that purpose there is no greater engine of innovation than our universities and our colleges in terms of the research and the innovation and entrepreneurial energy that is present on those campuses.
There are a number of things in your 10-year strategic plan that focus on alignment with what business wants. Are there any new initiatives that are off and running?
In the old days, the number one issue (for) every potential business retention or attraction candidate was tax rate and "what can you do to help build the new road into my facility or renovate my plant?" Now, the number one issue is what talent will they have access to and the proximity to research centers that can help them keep their product lines on the cutting edge. And so, we are in every meeting that the Department of Development has from the inception of every attraction or retention project that is on the docket. This isn't new; we've been doing this for a number of years.
Secondly we've created the Ohio Skills Bank, which is the data-driven place where we're constantly monitoring supply and demand for labor. That's where we are gathering all the data and then supplementing it by interviews with actual employers about what kinds of workers they're going to be looking for. We match that to what we're producing in our degree programs and certificate programs across the state.
A third initiative is a first-of-its kind, as far as we know, survey of business satisfaction with the work of the university system. It's a combination of a survey tool and focus groups, and we're out in the field right now in our pilot phase.
Our Centers of Excellence are another core strategy to have each university identify and focus its resources -- and the state to focus our resources -- on a few centers of excellence in the areas of research and academia that are aligned to growing industries and growing areas of Ohio's economy.
Where do our current university research capabilities seem to be making the most difference right now?
Clearly, advanced energy is one of the areas. You look at the number of companies that have spun out of biomedical research based at universities. Transportation and the aerospace industry. And then lastly, never to be overlooked, agriculture is a very major area of research.
The university system has placed some importance on recruitment of international students. Why?
Beginning with the premise that this is a global economy, we think that there are two benefits. We want our students here in Ohio to have experience working in the global arena, gain the cultural skills in working with colleagues around the world. They do this both by traveling and learning abroad and by studying on their campuses with international students who come here. And any international students who come here to study, but end up going back to their home countries, are now alumni of their Ohio schools and have a close relationship and friendships and very often can be cultivated as business sources.
What are the biggest challenges that you and the Board of Regents will face in the next five years?
Ohio has an absolutely world-class infrastructure of higher education. The reason it hasn't yielded results at the level you would expect, given the magnitude of our system, is that we have been competitive with each other rather than collaborative. You know, competing for resources, competing for students, competing for programs, instead of saying "how can we all work together to meet the educational needs of Ohio citizens and to advance the economic prosperity of our state?" We've been doing terrifically well at breaking down those competitive things and building collaborative muscles, but you've got to keep at it, it doesn't happen automatically.
Is there anything else you want to mention?
We've long known that how much an individual is going to earn is tied to his or her level of education. The same thing is true for a region or state. The overall educational attainment of our citizens is the single greatest indicator of our future prosperity of the state. We have three specific goals: to graduate more students, to keep them here and to attract talent to the state. We always measured ourselves on the numbers we graduated, but to make a commitment to keep them here -- which means to link them through co-ops, internships and other initiatives, to our local businesses, to promote new business for them to work at -- is kind of a departure for universities.