In the 10 states with the highest per-capita gross domestic product, 33 percent of adults have bachelor’s degrees. Florida, by contrast, ranks 43rd in the nation for bachelor’s degrees per 1,000 residents
Florida’s labor force is large – more than nine million people. But increasingly it has become difficult for prospective employers to find large pools of workers to support business expansion.
Also, like those of many states, Florida’s economy is changing, moving away from the industrial world toward an economy powered by research and development and the prospect of high-wage, high value-added jobs in emerging industries.
State lawmakers and local communities have invested heavily in incentive programs that have attracted several prominent bio-medical research companies to the state over the past five years. Efforts to form economic clusters of technology firms are showing signs of success particularly in the Orlando-area.
Universities are seen as key to keeping the state competitive. But just as global business demand for educated workers is skyrocketing, the deep economic slump hitting Florida and the nation as a whole is battering the state’s higher education system, prompting budget cuts that threaten to slow the production of new talent.
“Brain drain” has become a grim fact of campus life in Florida as some of the state’s most talented professors have left for more lucrative positions in other states. And universities also have implemented enrollment caps to help deal with belt-tightening, further troubling the state’s efforts to train a new generation of work force adept in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics programs sought by many employers.
But there are signs of promise. Standardized test scores are showing marked improvement as far back as fourth grade. The annual influx of tens of thousands of new students that crowded Florida classrooms and led to strict, voter-approved limits on class-size has eased due to the economic slowdown, reducing costs for many districts even as they grapple with budget cuts.
Colleges and universities had enjoyed a surge in enrollment and stronger completion rates in recent years. There’s been a rise in minority enrollment, and recently approved legislation has opened the door for many of the state’s 28 community colleges to begin granting baccalaureate degrees, potentially expanding Florida’s talent pool.
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