The McGraw-Hill Research Foun­da­tion has released a new pol­icy paper by Dr. Free­man A. Hrabowski, III, that seeks to offer prac­ti­cal and scal­able solu­tions to the prob­lem of inad­e­quate sup­ply of col­lege grad­u­ates excelling in the fields of sci­ence, tech­nol­ogy, engi­neer­ing and math­e­mat­ics (STEM). Dr. Hrabowski is Pres­i­dent of the Uni­ver­sity of Mary­land, Bal­ti­more County (UMBC). He says research in STEM is crit­i­cal as the US addresses key chal­lenges in health­care, the envi­ron­ment, national secu­rity and the economy.

In the paper, Insti­tu­tional Change in Higher Edu­ca­tion: Inno­va­tion and Col­lab­o­ra­tion, Dr. Hrabowski dis­cusses how his insti­tu­tion has addressed the short­age of STEM grad­u­ates, par­tic­u­larly among groups that have been under­rep­re­sented in these fields, includ­ing minori­ties, women and stu­dents from low-income back­grounds. UMBC has been recog­nised widely as a leader in higher edu­ca­tion inno­va­tion, accord­ing to him. For three years in a row, the US News and World Report America’s Best Col­leges Guide has ranked the uni­ver­sity num­ber one among ‘Up-and-Coming’ national universities.

To help meet the grow­ing demand for STEM experts nation­wide and encour­age insti­tu­tional change, Dr. Hrabowski urges col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties to estab­lish pri­or­i­ties, focus on strate­gic plan­ning, and empha­sise effec­tive­ness and effi­ciency in the use of resources; reflect on their institution’s cul­ture, tak­ing into account school val­ues, prac­tices, habits and even the rela­tion­ships among fac­ulty, staff, and stu­dents; encour­age the involve­ment of the entire cam­pus, includ­ing fac­ulty, admin­is­tra­tion, and stu­dents, in under­stand­ing and address­ing broad reten­tion issues and gen­eral aca­d­e­mic per­for­mance; focus on the impor­tance of group study and other approaches that inform redesign for first-year STEM courses; increase sup­port for minor­ity groups by pro­vid­ing knowl­edge and skill devel­op­ment, aca­d­e­mic and social inte­gra­tion, sup­port and moti­va­tion, and advis­ing and mon­i­tor­ing; and develop dis­tinct pro­grammes and ini­tia­tives that address change needed in grad­u­ate programmes.

Dr. Hrabowski shows that the frame­work devel­oped through the Mey­er­hoff Schol­ars Pro­gram under­lies other impor­tant pro­grammes and ini­tia­tives at UMBC that have helped cre­ate a cam­pus cli­mate of inclu­sive excel­lence. He will dis­cuss the paper’s themes as a fea­tured speaker at the third annual Inno­va­tion in Edu­ca­tion Sum­mit in New York City on Sep­tem­ber 28, 2011. Spon­sored by The McGraw-Hill Research Foun­da­tion, the event brings together experts to dis­cuss crit­i­cal issues and trends and their impact on today’s edu­ca­tion environment.”

Source: Knowl­edge­s­peak Newsletter