Lack of Diversity in Higher Education Could Result in Worker Shortage, Report Says By ALEX P. KELLOGG
The United States faces a social and economic crisis if diversity in higher education isn't drastically improved, a coalition of corporate chief executives and university presidents says in a report released on Thursday.
The report, titled "Investing in People: Developing All of America's Talent on Campus and in the Workplace," notes that while the country's minority population continues to grow rapidly, members of most racial and ethnic groups are far from being proportionally represented on most college campuses. Unless more money is spent on minority education, it warns, the country could face a work-force shortfall in the near future.
According to the report, about 90 percent of both white American and African-American adults had finished high school as of 1998, but only two-thirds of Hispanic Americans had done so. At the college level, 28 percent of white Americans held bachelor's degrees in 2000, while less than 17 percent of African-Americans and only 11 percent of Hispanics did. That trend of African-Americans' and Hispanics' earning far fewer degrees proportionally could lead to a dearth of skilled laborers, given that 80 percent of the traditional college-age population will be nonwhite by 2015. The report's authors predict that there will be 19 million more jobs than workers who are adequately prepared to fill them by 2028.
The report was released by the Business-Higher Education Forum, a partnership of the American Council on Education and the National Alliance of Business that focuses on issues of concern to colleges and companies alike. The report calls on business and institutional leaders to become more actively involved in promoting and expanding diversity efforts, and outlines a number of steps its authors believe will improve minority education.
Among the report's recommendations are that existing outreach programs that prepare students for college be expanded and strengthened, and that teachers who serve large minority populations be given the resources to work with racially and ethnically diverse student bodies. It also recommends that college admissions be based less on test scores and grades, and more on individual assessments of each applicant.
The report also urges corporate foundations to provide more support for diversity efforts, and recommends that the annual maximum Pell Grant be increased from $3,750 to $5,800 to expand educational opportunities.
Copies of the report are available for $15 from ACE Fulfillment Services, Department 191, Washington, DC 20055-0191, or online at http://www.bhef.com/