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[Chapter 2] On the Road to Economic Development - December 1996
With the dawning of the 21st Century, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) serve a critical role in providing educational opportunities for large numbers of African Americans, and increasingly, for Americans of every race and hue. Created with the special mission of educating black Americans, these institutions continue to enroll large numbers of students annually. In 1994, a total of 280,000 students attended the 103 HBCUs. Eighty-two percent of the students were black, thirteen percent were white, two percent were nonresident aliens, and the remaining three percent included Hispanic, Asian, and American Indian students (Hoffman, Snyder, & Sonnenberg, 1996).
Mainly situated in the southeastern United States, HBCUs as a whole produce thousands of baccalaureate degree graduates year after year. For the 1993-94 academic year, HBCUs conferred 27,391 bachelor’s degrees which represented only 2.3 percent of all bachelor’s degrees awarded, but represented 28 percent of all bachelor’s degrees awarded to black Americans (Hoffman, Snyder, & Sonnenberg, 1996). See Appendix A for data prepared by the National Center for Education Statistics on all 103 HBCUs' enrollment patterns (Table A1) and their record of conferring degrees (Table A2).
In addition to providing college-going opportunities for black Americans, HBCUs also serve an increasing number of white, Hispanic, and Asian students. Tables A1 and A2 show the number and percentage of students from various racial and ethnic backgrounds who enrolled in, and received bachelor’s degrees from, HBCUs between 1976 and 1994. The percentage of bachelor’s degrees conferred to white students increased from 7.5 percent to 10.8 percent during the period. Although the numbers were relatively small, the percentage of bachelor’s degrees conferred by HBCUs to Hispanic and Asian students more than doubled between 1976 and 1994.
The trend towards greater racial and ethnic diversification in student enrollments and graduation rates at HBCUs are reflective of the changes that are occurring in American society. The workforce of the 21st Century will look drastically different from that of the 20th Century. Although the overall workforce is projected to expand very little during the last decade of the current century, it is expected to increase by 26 million workers by the year 2005. African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics will comprise more than half of that growth (National University Continuing Education Association, 1995). These projections hold serious implications for the role HBCUs might play in preparing the globally diverse workforce of the 21st Century.
Very little is known about how colleges and universities, particularly HBCUs, use their institutional resources to enhance the workforces of their local communities. American workers, of all races and ethnic groups, find it necessary to adapt to emerging technologies and develop new skills to compete successfully for jobs in a global economy. In what ways do institutions of higher education extend their expertise and resources to their surrounding communities to support economic development?
During the decade of the 80’s, higher education institutions in general acknowledged and accepted the key role they could play in the economic development of the nation’s cities, states, and regions (American Association of State Colleges and Universities, 1986). They recognized that their knowledge-based resources provided an essential ingredient in the infrastructure needed by the nation to grow and compete in a highly competitive, technologically advanced world economy. Colleges and universities play a variety of roles that contribute to economic development. They provide education and training that expand human capital. They conduct basic and applied research that generate new technologies, new products, and new services. And they share knowledge resources that help transfer innovations from sector to sector (Roberts, 1986). Each of these roles — human capital development, technology development, and knowledge transfer — serves a vital function in the economic development of an area. The human capital development role contributes to the availability of a skilled and capable workforce. Technology development provides the foundation for future production of goods and services. Existing technology and information, when transferred to the public and private sectors, provide opportunities for government and industry to create new industries, and thus, new jobs.
In its 1995 publication, The Knowledge Connection, the National University Continuing Education Association (NUCEA) highlighted the connection between higher education institutions and economic development. NUCEA asserts that college and university continuing education services have changed to meet the changing nature of work and learning in America. Colleges and universities have traditionally fulfilled their public service and community outreach mission through continuing education programs. Whereas the programs have historically provided night schools and part-time degree programs, they have now expanded their formats and curricula to include problem solving, facilitation, and community development. One aspect of community development is economic development.
Economic development is commonly defined as an increase in the economic well-being of people within the context of their social environments (Rolzinski, 1986; Wolman & Spitzley, 1996). Such an increase may be manifested by positive changes in the level and distribution of area employment, by increases in per capita income, or both. Economic development implies an improvement in the economy of a local area or region. Do HBCUs, as special mission institutions, view economic development as an important part of their roles?
This question may best be answered by a look at the historical development of HBCUs. According to Hoffman, Snyder, and Sonnenberg (1996), the story of HBCUs began prior to the Civil War. The earliest of these colleges was formed during the 1830s to provide educational opportunities for black Americans, most of whom as slaves were prohibited from receiving an education. From that early beginning, HBCUs took on the responsibility of contributing to the economic well-being of black Americans.
Although black Americans now have greater access to educational opportunities than they did 150 years ago, there are several reasons that HBCUs might consider continuing, developing, or enhancing their involvement in economic development activities. One, increasing enrollment and financial pressures can be countered by developing programs that reach new clienteles. HBCUs already serve racially and ethnically diverse student populations. Consideration might be given to extending services to the local community and to the region. Two, the nation is challenged to retrain and upgrade the skills of the existing workforce to match the “education intensive occupations” characteristic of new employment opportunities. This need is especially salient for the populations traditionally served by HBCUs in both urban and rural settings. Certain segments of these populations are likely to be ignored by the workforce if HBCUs do not include them. And three, according to Wenglinsky (1996), HBCUs are better at preparing African American students for professional life, and thus, for improved earnings, than are predominantly white institutions. Factors such as familiarity and comfort may render HBCUs better able to serve some new entrants to the workforce and some existing workforce participants than are other institutions. There are compelling reasons, then, for HBCUs to support community economic development efforts.
If HBCUs view economic development as a viable role, which units of the institutions assume responsibility for this function? Economic development, with its emphasis on helping people to gain employment and enhance their income, requires training opportunities for new entrants to the workforce and for persons already in the workforce who need new skills. The mandate of continuing education is to serve the needs of adult learners, and increasingly those of business and industry (Charner & Rolzinski, 1987).
According to NUCEA (1995), the rise of the knowledge-based society requires the acceptance of the following four new precepts:
Continuing education programs that are involved with economic development need to base their offerings on the above precepts. To what extent do HBCUs use their continuing education programs to address community, business, and industry needs? This and other questions were of interest to the U.S. Department of Education.
In the fall of 1994, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Research and Improvement commissioned a study of the continuing education functions of HBCUs. The purpose of the study was to identify and describe the capacities and potential of a sample of HBCUs that are providing continuing education services within the contexts of their labor markets. The study sought information on the extent to which:
From the 103 HBCUs that were in existence in the fall of 1994, nine (Appendix B) were selected for in-depth case studies on their labor markets, their continuing education services, and their use of labor market data to determine program offerings. All participating institutions were informed that the study findings would be used to develop a program guide suitable for use by them and by other institutions.
The purpose of this program guide is to provide information, advice, and programming strategies that institutions might use to enhance the involvement of their continuing education programs with community economic development. Intended audiences are college and university administrators; continuing education program developers and coordinators; business, industry, and government collaborators; consumers —current and prospective students; and federal, state, and local policymakers.
To optimize the use and usefulness of the program guide, it has been organized to allow the reader to pick and choose according to topical interest and need. Chapter 2 provides a review of the literature on successful higher education-economic development initiatives. Chapter 3 highlights the promising practices and innovative program elements that were found at the nine HBCUs that participated in the study. Based on the study’s findings, Chapter 4 offers a model for developing continuing education programs that contribute to community economic development. The final section, Chapter 5, addresses the implications of the model for each of the stakeholder groups that are likely to be involved with implementation.
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