Coordinate higher education to strengthen your regional economy Friday, November 15, 2002 Postsecondary education is critical to economic development. In a step that could provide a good approach to follow, Ohio and Kentucky officials have signed an agreement to extend in-state tuition benefits to students living in Ohio and Kentucky counties near Ashland, KY. EDPros need to pay attention to these type of agreements. Not everyone has an MIT in the backyard. But nearly every community has access to postsecondary education. The problem is that these institutaions are often small and with tight budgets. From an economic development standpoint, tighter coordination among institutions is critical to building a "post-secondary" cluster. The tighter the cluster, the less chance students will drift away. But higher education administrators often spend too much time protecting their turf to let common sense coordination happen. Here, Ashland Community College, Ashland Technical College and Morehead State University's Ashland branch as well as Ohio University-Southern in Ironton, Shawnee State University and Rio Grande Community College are participating in the agreement. The savings are not trivial: Ohio students will get a break of $1,920 per semester or $3,840 per year at Ashland Community College. While it wasn't part of the agreement, Shawnee State University in Ohio and Ashland Community College and Ashland Technical College in Kentucky also announced an agreement Thursday where credits from the Kentucky schools will be credited towards a four-year degree at Shawnee State. This is the type of collaboration that can strengthen a regional economy. Learn more. Go posted by Ed Morrison |		This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. links Some Background on EDPro Weblog The purpose of this weblog is to help economic development professionals -- EDPros -- keep up with the changes sweeping our profession. Strap on your goggles. It's a whole new game. There are no experts any more. The only place to learn about economic development is from other EDPros who are doing it. One other point: the prevaling approach (paradigm, if you like) in economic development is shifting from competition to collaboration. There are a lot of reaasons underlying this shift, but here's the important insight: You, your community, and your region will do better by collaborating and sharing information. So, spread the word...Share the knowledge. Tell a friend about EDPro Weblog. If you are using a news reader, here is the link to syndicate this site: Here's the link if you are a bloglines subscriber: Speaking and workshops on Open Source Economic Development As the idea of Open Source Economic Development starts spreading, more people are asking about it. Visit the I-Open web site to learn more. My colleagues and I are happy to explain the basic concepts in a talk or a workshop. E-mail Susan Alshuler if you'd like to learn more about workshops and speaking. Background on Ed Morrison Download some background information on me here.

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