(Editor’s note: This essay is part of PBN’s 35th anniversary publication, which can be viewed here.)
“Workforce development” is arguably the most important social challenge facing Rhode Island and our country today.
It has become only more pressing as the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the trend of widening inequality both locally and nationally. For instance, according to the Economic Policy Institute, in Q1 and Q2 of 2021, “Although the overall unemployment rate fell, Hispanic workers were still nearly 70% more likely to face unemployment than white workers, while Black workers were twice as likely to face unemployment as white workers.”
Given that household debt continues to increase – 2.1% in Q2 of 2021 according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York – the question becomes, how do we make sure that advanced education meets Rhode Island’s workforce development needs in a way that creates value worth its cost?
To echo a common observation, Rhode Island’s small population and geographic footprint make it an ideal setting for creative partnerships designed to tackle social and economic challenges.
In theory we can identify shared interests, collaborate and show impact relatively easily because of proximity and small numbers. There have been some modest examples of this involving higher education in Rhode Island, but we need to do more.
Motivated by both immediate and longer-term needs, higher eds and businesses could be working together in bolder ways. If higher eds can align their curriculum more closely to local corporate needs, especially in terms of graduate certificates and degrees, but also in pathways to undergraduate degree completion, the value of the education for students increases.
How can this work? When I worked on a campus that had historically been a women’s college, we collected employer data and designed graduate programs based on feedback from working mothers about their aspirations for career changes and their time constraints.
When Boston University assessed its business education programs, it designed completely new learning formats together with corporate partners.
To identify the best new areas of concentration for graduate students at the Providence College business school, we convened human resources leaders from prominent companies for an in-depth discussion of gaps in skills and abilities. As a result, the Providence College School of Business revamped its MBA curriculum to be more quantitatively focused and launched its new Master of Science in Business Analytics degree.
We need more of these types of feedback loops, built into our state, to make sure that higher education is producing graduates with the skills businesses need. Even more so, we need these workforce development programs to provide opportunity equitably.
Nationally, if not here in Rhode Island, it often seems there is more collective leadership for creatively addressing social challenges coming from corporate America than is evident from higher education leaders.
An example is the 300-strong corporate CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion, whose founder, Pricewaterouse Cooper Tim Ryan, spoke at the Providence College School of Business two years ago.
Perhaps public opinion questioning the value and direction of higher education has us shrinking away from social leadership – when corporate America finds it imperative.
There are also competitive pressures operating in higher education that sometimes discourage collective action, but in our small state we have found some ways to join forces. For example, Providence College’s School of Continuing Education Guaranteed Acceptance and Tuition Adjustment program coordinates with the Community College of Rhode Island and Bristol Community College to help students completing associate degrees transfer seamlessly for their baccalaureate at PC.
If I were in the position of offering corporate support for community workforce development initiatives, I would prioritize support for activities that involve the greatest possible number of educational institutions working together.
What could be accomplished by corporations working together and with alliances of higher education entities? Together, we could forecast workforce development needs in the coming years and develop programs to begin preparing students.
Together, we could design and fund a special fellowship program open for graduates of all Rhode Island baccalaureate institutions to stay here after graduation for at least two years in career-launching roles at Rhode Island companies.
As we say at the PC School of Business, we believe in the “Power of WE.” Together, WE could do so much.
(Sylvia Maxfield is dean of the Providence College School of Business.)
