2011 UPCEA Career and Economic Development Forum

2011 UPCEA Career and Economic Development Forum
January 12-14, 2011 • Sandpearl Resort • Clearwater Beach, FL

The Ecology of Innovation: Responding to Professional and Economic Needs

Ecological systems are defined by the interrelationships among organisms and their environment. Economic development is driven by innovation. Like an ecological system, economic development depends upon the interrelationships among education and training providers, employers, and government policymakers. The job training funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), as well as changes to Pell Grant funding and the unemployment insurance system, were designed to bring postsecondary education within the reach of increased numbers of working Americans. Yet these changes represent but a first step in addressing the nation’s need to raise the educational attainment level of its workforce. To get ahead, access to ongoing postsecondary education and training is vital over the career span. Yet the current system is skewed toward short-term training created to get the unemployed into the jobs and gives short shrift to building the skill levels of workers through investments in ongoing education and training.