WTIA, the Washington Technology Industry Association, has testified in front of the House Higher Education Committee in Olympia about the degree “gap” in Washington, especially with regards to computer science and engineering.
The hearing was a work session where the Higher Education Coordinating Board, www.hecb.wa.gov, the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges,www.sbctc.ctc.edu and the Workforce Training Board, www.wtb.wa.gov, presented a report on the educational needs of employers in Washington and how the higher education system is responding.
After the presentation by the three state agencies, the chair of the committee, Rep. Larry Seaquist,http://www.leg.wa.gov/house/representatives/Pages/seaquist.aspx called WTIA up to provide a persepctive from the tech industry’s standpoint. We said if there was one message, it would to close the computer science gap. The WTIA referenced the 700+ jobs on its job board, http://www.wtiajobs.org/ and the fact that most of those jobs require a four year degree in computer science or engineering.
The lack of STEM degree holders in the U.S. workforce is becoming an increasingly serious problem. This article, http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/02/10/10366521-us-workers-behind-korea-uk-germany-19-others-in-science-and-math discusses this issue showing how far behind the U.S. is compared to other nations.
In Washington, the state’s budget problem means that higher education will likely see another significant budget cut across the system, further harming our capacity to educate our own students and citizens to the levels commensurate with what employers require. Continuing to import well educated people from other states is a poor substitute for supporting the higher education needs of Washington.
You can view the committee hearing at TVW, http://www.tvw.org/index.php?option=com_tvwplayer&eventID=2012021039 WTIA comes on at 1:12 [24×7]
