Post-Secondary Education: Education, Training and Technology Services

Abstract

Post-secondary education (PSE) has been increasingly emphasized in studies of and policies for economic growth and development. Knowledge has become a primary source of economic growth and development, supplementing or even supplanting replacing natural resources and labor-intensive industries. Knowledge workers, people whose jobs require formal and advanced schooling, are among the fastest growing groups in wealthy countries’ workforces [Drucker 1993 and 2002; Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995]. Universities and colleges, developed from the medieval organizations of cultural conservation, preservation, and knowledge transmission, have added related services to their liberal-arts educational functions. For its part, “industry,” defined here as enterprises that produce or supply goods and services for profit, has increased its external links to keep pace with rapid change and complication of the business environment. These changes have strengthened the link between higher education and economic development. Universities and colleges are recognized as important contributors to national/regional economic development. The cases of MIT and Route 128 and Stanford and Silicon Valley are widely recognized and imitated by many regional economic growth/development policies. While most research on relationships between higher education and industry focus on research-oriented, doctoraldegree-granting universities, this research includes baccalaureate colleges, community colleges, and technical colleges. These lower level colleges and universities comprise the majority of PSE providers, and provide important services to their local and national economies.