Chancellor's Musings
1/22/2008
Happy New Year! | Higher Education and the Future of Alaska
Happy New Year!
It's hard to believe we've welcomed eight new years since Y2K. Our current, traditional first-time students were still in elementary school in January of 2000. I still recall watching CNN coverage of the turn of the millennium (I know, technically the third millennium began 1/1/2001) in the Far East, hoping that the world would not begin unraveling. Of course, Y2K passed without incident. Globally, we've moved on to other crises – some overblown; others underestimated. Whatever the crisis, however, I remain convinced that universities are necessary and essential to society dealing with situations, anticipated or not. We advance knowledge and understanding. We help people understand, anticipate, and avert crises. We prepare people to address the critical issues of the day. I view our cause and our work at UAF in much the same way that President Woodrow Wilson described responsible citizenship and leadership:
"You are not here merely to make a living. You are here in order to enable the world to live more amply, with greater vision, with a finer spirit of hope and achievement. You are here to enrich the world, and you impoverish yourself if you forget the errand."
As we look to this fresh, full year ahead, let's re-commit ourselves to making tomorrow brighter through learning/teaching, discovery/research, and outreach/service.
Higher Education and the Future of Alaska
But let's also look ahead within the context of our Alaska reality. The National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) just published "Higher Education and the Future of Alaska: Education, Workforce, and Economic Development Data." (PPT 1.7MB) I'll synthesize the 55-frame PowerPoint, drawing upon the data to illuminate our gaze into the future. We in Alaska's higher education community certainly face some unique challenges, among them:
Student Enrollment and Success In-State:
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Disproportionately few young Alaskans graduate from high school (our rate places Alaska 42nd nationally).
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Too few of those who do graduate from high school go to college (46th).
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Too many of our college-bound high school graduates do not enroll in college in-state (48th; 56 percent in-state vs. the national average of 84).
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Far too few of those who do go to college in Alaska actually obtain a degree.
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Associates degree (48th)
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Bachelors degree (50th)
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Six-year bachelors attainment for four-year colleges is also lowest in the country, in a class of our own (20.3 percent vs. a national average of 55.8)
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Those who do obtain a bachelors degree and live in Alaska lag far behind their US peers in part-time enrollment in graduate or professional courses/programs (48th).
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Each of these measures is exacerbated in rural Alaska.
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Alaska exhibits a reverse education by age trend; for most developed countries, the percent of the 25-34 year age group with an associates degree or higher, far exceeds that level of education for the 55-64 age class. For example: France 39 vs. 16; Ireland 41 vs. 17; Canada 54 vs. 36; Japan 53 vs. 22. Alaska numbers are 32 vs. 39.
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The age disparity, presented differently:
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Ages 18-24 with high school diplomas (44th in US)
Ages 25-64 with high school diplomas (5th)
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We start with a low population, spread across a vast territory. Far too many young people leak from our Alaskan education pipeline. Even as we compare poorly to the rest of the US, our nation "ranks tenth in the share of its 25-34 year-old population that has completed high school, and tenth in the proportion holding a college degree" (from Good Policy, Good Practice, November 2007, a Joint Report from The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education and The National Center for Higher Education Management Systems). Alaska and America broadly must have a trained workforce and an educated citizenry. UAF is part of the solution, but the problem is a shared domain.
Economic Factors
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Alaska per capita personal income as a percent of the US average declined from an early 1970's high of 173 percent, falling to 103 percent in 2005.
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Adjusted for cost of living, Alaskan salaries are below the US average across all education levels; the difference increases with level of education.
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Mining and government account for more than 41 percent of our Gross State Product (GSP); the US average for those two sectors is 13 percent.
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Manufacturing in Alaska produces only two percent of GSP.
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Federal research and expenditures per capita is very strong (5th).
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Academic research and development per $1K GSP is relatively strong (18th).
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But, the number of patents per $1K GSP (50th).
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Our Alaska gross license income (generated by licensed proprietary knowledge) per worker is last in the nation; our private sector is not technologically entrepreneurial.
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Venture capital – financing per $1K GSP (50th).
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Percentage employment in high technology occupations (45th).
Our economy, rooted in government services and natural resource extraction, is not likely to stimulate a shift in these trends. A gas pipeline would inject another construction boom and generate long-term state revenues, but without in-state processing to add value, the basic economy will remain unchanged.
Seminal Issues
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Alaska's workforce experiences extraordinarily high levels of imports and exports, varying with occupation and age; we have a very fluid work force.
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Alaska has one of the nation's highest negative migration rates for 22-64 year-old college graduates, combined with the nation's lowest production of college graduates.
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The NCHEMS economic development "report card" for Alaska:
- Performance - D
- Business Vitality - F
- Development Capacity - D
Alaska is not well-positioned to fundamentally change its economic reality.
Implications for UAF
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We can not provide jobs for economic sectors that do not exist.
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We can not create a new economy.
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We can (and must) educate Alaskans and would-be Alaskans (our migration-prone workforce needs all the prepared and potential workers we can attract) for the extant economy.
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We can (and must) grow our academic research enterprise, an important segment of the current economy.
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We can (and must) partner with K-12 to keep Alaskans in the education pipeline, prepare them for work and college, and help them succeed in college.
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We can (and must) attract more Alaskans and would-be Alaskans to America's Arctic University; a great, small university getting better every day:
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an extraordinary education value
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an unmatched education experience
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We can (and must) prepare Alaskans and would-be Alaskans for today's opportunities and tomorrow's crises.
The Good Policy, Good Practice report offers a set of observations that serve well to wrap up my distillation of the Alaska-focused NCHEMS report:
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"The knowledge economy is unforgiving for individuals who do not have education or training beyond high school – and for communities, states, and nations that do not have high percentages of their population with some education or training beyond high school."
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"The challenge is to help more people achieve higher levels of education and to use resources and funding wisely in the process."
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"For those states that do not perform well in increasing the educational level of their population, the results will cost them dearly."
Our work is cut out for us. Again, we can and must be part of the solution, but the problem is not ours alone. Let's stay the course for making tomorrow bright for Alaskans. The state's economic and social prosperity depends on it.
Welcome back and Happy New Year!