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THE MANCHIN REPORT: Higher Education Setting Pace for State’s ...... |
-- This week, I met with leaders from West Virginia's higher education community to celebrate the annual Higher Education Day at the Legislature and discuss the important leadership role of our public and private higher education institutions in ourongoing efforts to improve our state's economic climate.
Our colleges and universities are so much more than just centers of academia.West Virginia's higher education institutions are regional leaders -- hubsaround which our state is building its economic future. Higher educationcontinues to broaden its scope and meet the new challenges in the world ofacademia, research and development, and workforce development.
Today, more West Virginians are taking advantage of our state's highereducational opportunities than ever before. During the past seven years, ourcollege-going rate has increased from 49.3 percent to 60.6 percent, exceedingthe national average of 56.6 percent.
The steadily increasing college-going rate among West Virginians defies nationalprojections of declines in our state's high school graduate population, and istruly a sign of positive movement in our efforts to expand accessibility acrossour state to higher education opportunities.
By increasing accessibility through distance learning, web-based courses andexpanded offerings at our two- and four-year institutions, our state has takenmajor steps to reverse the trend of state residents leaving West Virginia totake advantage of educational and professional opportunities elsewhere.According to a recent report issued by the West Virginia Community and TechnicalCollege System, approximately 76 percent of college graduates remained in WestVirginia either as workers or as students continuing their education.
It is important that we continue to provide our higher education partners withthe flexibility that will allow these institutions to grow and thrive. I'mproud to say that we have taken steps to provide our colleges and universitieswith the tools to compete within the regional and national education market, andthis work is ongoing.
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