Wednesday, March 7, 2018

Universities as a Tool for Economic Development



Universities as a Tool for Economic Development 

It can act as an important tool for Economic Development, it can contribute in many ways for local growth.

Universities should stop seeing themselves only as educators, and start seeing themselves as platforms for local economic activity.

For more details, please refer PR

How Universities Make Cities Great

It’s not just about education.



When thinking about how to revive economically lagging regions, especially in the Rust Belt, I often talk about the importance of universities. Big, high-quality research universities have been essential for creating technology clusters in Austin, Raleigh and San Diego. But even small colleges in rural areas can have big benefits for the surrounding area.

Why are colleges so great? To use universities as a tool for economic development, it’s important to think about the many ways they contribute to local growth -- and some ways they don’t.

Most people think of colleges mainly as educational institutions. Economists argue about whether education improves people’s skills or is just a fancy form of time-wasting credentialism. But most people seem to believe that higher education is important and useful. This naturally leads them to think of colleges as places that educate the local populace.

At first glance, evidence would seem to bear this out. Economist Enrico Moretti has found that an increase in the supply of college graduates in an area results in higher wages for workers of all education levels. Other studies generally conclude that a more educated populace leads to higher productivity. Moretti finds that places where the U.S. government gave land grants for colleges over a century ago have more educated workforces to this day.

But a closer look at the data reveals some problems with the basic story. The people who get their educations at the local university often don’t stay in the region. While some cities tend to keep 70 percent or more of the alumni of local colleges, others have retention rates below 50 percent. This is also a problem at the state level -- career information website Zippia found that some states lose more than half of their college graduates.


Regards

Prof. Pralhad Jadhav 

Master of Library & Information Science (NET Qualified) 
Senior Manager @ Knowledge Repository  
Khaitan & Co 

Twitter Handle | @Pralhad161978

No comments:

Post a Comment