[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 11]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 15752-15753]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




    COMMENDING NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY FOR ITS SECOND ANNUAL HIGHER 
                   EDUCATION INNOVATION PUBLIC SURVEY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JAMES P. McGOVERN

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 11, 2013

  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, with jobs and the economic recovery 
continuing to be a top concern of many of my constituents, I rise today 
to call attention to the results of a new public opinion survey about 
higher education and workforce development recently released by 
Northeastern University.
  There's a great deal of public concern about whether colleges and 
universities are preparing students for employment--as well as how best 
to prepare them. To ensure hard data is part of this discussion, Mr. 
Speaker, Northeastern University has released a new, timely national 
public opinion poll about the future of higher education.
  Last year, Northeastern released a poll focused on innovation in 
higher education, including public attitudes about the online 
revolution that is currently underway. This year, Northeastern has 
taken it one step further by not only asking the public for its views, 
but also asking hiring decision makers at a cross-section of employers 
nationwide what they expect from our higher education system.
  The results, which challenge the conventional wisdom, provide an 
important window into how well our colleges and universities are doing 
in preparing graduates to be competitive in the 21st century global 
workforce. In particular, the poll finds that--nearly two-thirds of 
Americans (65 percent) and almost three-quarters of hiring decision 
makers (73 percent) believe that having employees who are well-rounded 
with a range of knowledge is more important than possessing industry-
specific skills.
  While almost two-thirds (62 percent) of those surveyed say that the 
higher education system is doing a ``fair'' or ``poor'' job of 
preparing recent college graduates for the workforce, Americans 
continue to believe higher education is critical to achieving career 
success. A large majority (70 percent) say that a person's level of 
education is the most important factor in a job candidate's success in 
the employment market. Nearly three in four Americans (74 percent) 
believe that a college degree is more important today than it was for 
their parents' generation, by far exceeding other factors such as 
current economic conditions, socioeconomic status, nationality, and 
race.
  Mr. Speaker, Northeastern's poll results show that Americans also see 
a shared responsibility when it comes to preparing recent graduates for 
success. They believe the number one reason for employers struggling to 
find qualified job candidates is that companies do not invest enough in 
training new hires. However, hiring decision-makers say that colleges 
and universities are not in tune with industry needs and not preparing 
graduates accordingly. In fact, 55 percent of business leaders surveyed 
say their firms have trained recent college graduates on skills they 
should have learned at an academic institution.
  Consistent with the findings of last year's Northeastern survey, 
Americans strongly support experiential learning in which a student's 
classroom education is integrated with professional work experience. 
Nearly nine in 10 Americans (89 percent) believe that students with 
work experience related to their field of study are more successful 
employees--and nearly three in four hiring decision-makers (74 percent) 
agree. Among those that gained work experience during college, a large 
majority (82 percent) says it was valuable for their personal and 
professional development.
  Mr. Speaker, other important findings from Northeastern's survey 
include:
  A strong majority of hiring decision-makers (87 percent) believe 
teaching students about entrepreneurship, including how to start their 
own businesses, is important to prepare students for the workforce;
  A majority of Americans (64 percent) believe the federal government 
should grant visas to international students who graduate college in 
the U.S. so they can remain in the country and work, while only 41 
percent of hiring decision-makers agree; and
  Although only a small percentage of Americans surveyed have studied 
or worked abroad in college, the majority of them (66 percent) believe 
that global experience was valuable for their personal and professional 
development. While most Americans (58 percent) believe that students 
with global experience are generally more successful employees, only 39 
percent of hiring decision-makers agree.
  These important results were released on September 17, 2013 at The 
National Press Club here in Washington, DC, where Northeastern hosted 
its second annual summit on issues facing higher education. The summit, 
entitled Innovation Imperative: Enhancing Higher Education Outcomes, 
featured a high-

[[Page 15753]]

profile panel of experts and a keynote address by Northeastern 
President Joseph Aoun. Moderated by Catherine Rampell of The New York 
Times, the panel included Mitchell E. Daniels, president of Purdue 
University; James Kvaal, deputy director of the White House Domestic 
Policy Council; Jeff Wilcox, corporate vice president for engineering 
at Lockheed Martin Corporation; and Deborah L. Wince-Smith, president 
and CEO of the Council on Competitiveness.
  Mr. Speaker, I commend Northeastern University, under the strong 
leadership of President Aoun, for undertaking this important work. As 
discussions get underway in the House about renewing the Higher 
Education Act, it's important that we focus on approaches that generate 
value and produce excellent outcomes for students. As policymakers, 
understanding what the American people, education consumers, and 
employers want and need from our higher education institutions is 
vital. Northeastern's work in this area is a great contribution to the 
public dialogue. I urge all of my colleagues to take the time to review 
Northeastern's important effort.

                          ____________________