H.E. Bergeron Engineers in North Conway has been trying for six months to fill openings for five engineers. It can't find anyone for the jobs. "There are virtually no engineers available in the state, especially in northern New Hampshire," explains Edmund Bergeron, president of the company.

He attended a job fair at the University of New Hampshire recently where 35 firms and state agencies were each looking for at least one civil engineer. Yet UNH graduates less than 20 civil engineers this year.

"It's true across all areas of engineering," Bergeron says. "It's even worse in electrical engineering. And technicians basically don't exist in this state.

Bergeron is expressing a common frustration of NH business people – the inability to find the skilled workers they need, particularly in such high-tech fields as engineering and computer science.

STALLLED ON THE SUPERHIGHWAY

The state's colleges and universities have recently come under scrutiny for not being able to meet the needs of NH's New Economy. Gov. Jeanne Shaheen states in a report released in April, "New Hampshire's post-secondary institutions have yet to expand and re-orient their degree programs to meet this demand. This skills gap between industry's labor needs and the output of New Hampshire post-secondary institution graduates is expected to worsen in the near term."

A report issued by the NH Forum on Higher Education in June, titled "Meeting the Challenge: Higher Education and the New Economy in New Hampshire," concurs: "In many respects, higher education in the state has not kept pace with changes in the economy."

It's not just engineers that the state's higher education institutions need to produce. "We need to increase the number of people graduating from colleges and universities who have degrees in such key areas as science, mathematics, engineering, and computer science. Now we're producing half of what we need in those areas," says Steve Reno, chancellor of the University System of New Hampshire."

He cautions the state is also not producing enough science and math teachers. "It's a matter of high quality teachers who can encourage elementary and secondary school kids to stick with hard subjects," he says.SUPPLY AND DEMAND

"The demand for college graduates, particularly for science and engineering majors, far exceeds the number of state residents who earn college degrees," the governor says in her report, titled "New Hampshire and the New Economy." The report also states that from 2000 to 2005, the demand for college-educated workers in the state is projected to more than triple.

The Forum's report stresses that what has worked for the state in the past will not work in the future. New Hampshire has relied heavily on skilled workers migrating from other states, especially Massachusetts, to fill its need for high-tech workers. That pipeline is drying up, New England as a whole has an overall unemployment rate of about 2 percent, and as NH's neighbors experience more robust economies than in the past, they are retaining workers.

"The problem is very serious," says Katharine Eneguess, a vice president of the Business and Industry Association in Concord, which represents 450 businesses in the state. "These issues are not going to go away. States that are successful throughout the country are thriving because they've put together a long-range strategy for growing their own workforce."

Dale Gilpin, chair of the board of governors of the NH Forum on Higher Education, warns the state cannot afford to waste any more time in addressing education concerns.

"If we don't focus on these issues now, it will be crisis time. I don't believe it is crisis time now, but it could be in short order," says Gilpin, who is also vice president and general manager of Fidelity Investments in Merrimack.

KEEPING NH'S STUDENTS

Among the key areas the Forum's report identifies as problematic are: not enough students completing high school, not enough going on to college, and not enough going on to college in NH.

The high school completion rate in NH falls between 63 and 73 percent. While this is comparable to the national average, it is lower than that of NH's "economic peers" – those states with high per capita income and a high-tech economy, according to the Forum report. About two-thirds of NH high school graduates go on to college compared to about three-quarters in the economic peer states.

Of those going to college, 46 percent stay in-state – the fourth lowest average in the nation. This trend could have a tremendous impact on NH's economic vitality. National data shows that 81 percent of graduates who graduate from institutions in their home state stay there, according to the Forum report. "We are losing some of New Hampshire's best and brightest to other states," says Ross Gittell, associate professor at UNH's Whittemore School of Business and Economics.

When pursuing higher education, many factors are working against keeping NH students in the state. The governor's report notes three problems: "Tuition at our public institutions is among the highest in New England. At the same time, transferability of credits across our community technical college and university system is limited, and significant improvements in our institutions' capital infrastructure are necessary."

HIGHER COST FOR HIGHER ED

Granite State families pay more than 60 percent of their income to send their children to a private four-year college or university, 30 percent for a public four-year college or university, and 27 percent for a public two-year college, according to a recent report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. In what the report calls top-performing states, the corresponding percentages are 30, 19 and 17 percent.

A lack of state funding for higher education has resulted in high in-state tuition, says Stephen Bolander, dean of the Whittemore School of Business and Economics at UNH.

Bergeron is more adamant. "The overall investment by the state in the universities is deplorable," he says.

Both point to an often-quoted statistic, that NH ranks last among the 50 states in its per capita support of higher education. Not only is tuition relatively high, but state assistance in the form of loans and scholarships for students and their families is low.

The report from the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education notes that NH "targets 9 percent of its state aid as a percent of its federal aid to low-income families." Illinois and Minnesota, on the other hand, both target more than 100 percent of their state aid (as a percentage of federal aid) to low-income families. The poorest families in NH must spend 29 percent of their income to pay for tuition at the lowest-priced NH colleges; that number is only 9 percent in the top-performing states.

"As a state, we are not even in the ball game with the other New England states for financial aid," says Reno. "We simply have not made the earmarking of financial aid a state spending priority."

Eliza Leadbeater, who heads the Belknap County Economic Development Council, also points to financial aid as a key problem. " Families are running scared at the cost of education," she says.

CLEARING TRANSFER ROAD BLOCKS

The ability to transfer credits from community and technical colleges in the state to four-year colleges and universities has been a problem, says John O'Donnell, commissioner of the Community Technical College System. "We realize we have to offer students the opportunity to move into the state higher education system," says O'Donnell.

"We've taken a very important step with the new transfer agreement we signed in March," he says. "The agreement allows students to earn an associate's degree at a community technical college and transfer all those credits to any institution within the state's university system.

O'Donnell notes that the community technical college system is a crucial part of meeting the need for more high-tech workers. These institutions train most of the technicians in the state's high-tech industries. "The economy in this state can't be sustained without the community technical college student," he says.

INADEQUATE FACILITIES

At UNH, Dean Bolander is frank about the need to upgrade teaching facilities at state colleges and universities. "Our facilities were great for the 1960s," he says. "Now, they don't measure up."

Arthur Greenberg, dean of the UNH College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, says they are teaching students in classrooms designed in the late 1940s. "Our facilities are absolutely sub par," he says, "and that presents difficulties in recruiting and retaining students and faculty."

Facilities are such a problem at UNH that they have raised a red flag for the engineering college's accrediting agency. "We are accredited," says Greenberg, "but the agency raised serious concerns about Kingsbury Hall (where the engineering college is located) in its report of 2000. Normally, after an accreditation visit, the next visit is six years later. However, the agency scheduled another visit with us for fall 2001. This is a measure of their very serious concern."

Greenberg does not doubt that the college's accreditation will be renewed, but the situation is "extremely serious" and, if the issue is not dealt with, "we could be presented with the real possibility of not being re-accredited."

Chancellor Reno also expresses concern about the infrastructure of the university system. "Clearly, our facilities in support of certain subjects have not been competitive compared to other institutions."

The legislature recently approved $100 million for the KEEP NH (Knowledge Economy Education Plan for New Hampshire) program; the money will be used during a six-year period to renovate and modernize teaching facilities at the state's public colleges and universities.

The funding will affect buildings, libraries, laboratories, and classrooms in areas that are key to the workforce needs of the state, such as engineering, natural and physical sciences, computer science, technology, and teacher education.

"The refurbishing of Kingsbury Hall from these dollars will play an important role in our ability to handle the needs of the state," says Greenberg.

"New Hampshire will be making an unprecedented investment in facilities that support these key areas," says Reno.

ACCESSING QUALITY PROGRAMS

The quality of the state's educational programs is not seen as a problem. A recent survey conducted by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education found that 80 percent of the state's employers are satisfied with how colleges are preparing students for their work.

While funding has hampered efforts to meet facility needs, institutions are continuing efforts to improve curriculum and to align it more closely with the needs of the business community. Bolander says the business college has spent the past year revising the undergraduate core curriculum. This fall, the school is offering a new program in information systems. "We worked with an advisory board of industry leaders from around the state to design the program with industry's needs in mind," he says.

Greenberg, too, works with a business advisory committee. "This is a very important dialogue and collaboration," he says.

Educators recognize, however, that more classes must be available in the high-tech subject areas. Administrators of the Community Technical College System say the need is great enough to double its total enrollment over the next ten years.

"This is a very ambitious goal," says O'Donnell, "but we believe it reflects the needs of the community and of the labor market."

High-tech courses are starting to fill up at UNH, says Bolander. "It's a question of finding resources to offer additional sections."

"We have room to expand," says Greenberg. "We are not at capacity. We have high quality students and faculty. The modifications of our building will make this a very different place. … We are not yet handling the needs of the state," he adds, "but we want to. We are positioned to do so."

Richard Gustafson, president of Southern New Hampshire University, points out that there is broad accessibility to colleges and universities in the Granite State. "In New Hampshire, we have more than 30 post-secondary institutions at all levels, in all locations," he says. "There is the opportunity for an education within a stone's throw of most citizens of the state. We're not turning students away. … And all colleges and universities are offering greater flexibility in their evening and weekend programs and with distance education through Internet-based programs. In terms of access, physical or electronic, we're in good shape. It's affordability that is the problem."

A FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE

Sen. Lou D'Allesandro, D-Manchester, points to public perception and communication between the legislature and higher education as problems in netting funding for higher education.

"I believe strongly that we have undersold the quality of higher education in New Hampshire," he says. "The public at large and government entities are just now waking up to how significant post-secondary education is."

D'Allesandro says the situation is changing but the legislature needs to believe that money is being spent properly and that facilities area being maintained properly. "We have to bridge that gap. The interaction that must take place has been absent. It is now being emphasized," he says.

For attitudes to continue to change, D'Allesandro says that "they (higher education) have to be more visible; they have to tell people what they do. Never mind this once-a-year slide show. Let the legislature know the very positive things that are going on and how it affects the lives of their constituents. When the people know it's a good investment, the legislature will fund it."

Reno cites KEEP NH as an example of bridging the gap between higher education and the legislature.

A SHARED PROBLEM

While higher education is an important part of the answer to increasing the number of skilled workers in the state, it is by no means the only answer.

The governor's report covers the full range of education, from early childcare to the K-12 system to higher education. "The higher education conversation is as much about K-12," says the BIA's Eneguess. "We need a strong educational system at all levels."

O'Donnell points out the importance of accessibility to lifelong training. "Much more adaptability is needed and people need access to training, particularly technological training, throughout their careers."

CAN WE DO IT?

Several programs across the state address the increased need for high-tech workers and the role of education in the state's economic future.

The NH Forum for Higher Education, composed of educators, business leaders and public policy makers, was created specifically to look at the state's current and future labor markets and economic needs, and the role of higher education in meeting those needs.

The Workforce Opportunity Council, created by Gov. Shaheen, focuses not only on the shortage of labor, but also on the other main economic challenge in the state – the disparity of incomes from one portion of the state to another. NHFuture is a Web-based program (www.NHFuture.net) that connects job seekers with NH companies looking for entry-level employees.

Developed by the Belknap County Economic Development Council, the program "helps stem the outward migration of young people by making them aware of the many good opportunities that exist in this state," says Leadbeater.

While many people are optimistic that NH is turning a corner in improving the state's educational system, others are cautious about the potential success.

"Fundamentally, until the state, at a political level, wishes to talk realistically about some form of tax relief to support education," say Bolander, "we are not going to find the revenue sources to support the needed improvements. We have a long ways to go."

Leadership is another key element which is missing. "We have all the ingredients to solve this problem," Leadbeater says. "But we need a strong leader to step forward."

Eneguess of the BIA is also cautious. "We are only at the beginning of the conversation. What is needed is a coordinated, long-term strategy for building our own workforce. Now is the time for everyone to get over any parochial interests and move forward together. If this boat is going to float, all of us have to be in it."

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