A glance at the latest US employment figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics reveals sharp differences in unemployment rates by educational attainment: college degree or higher: 4.3%; associate degree or some college: 8.2%; high school graduates, no college: 9.6%; and no high school diploma: 14.3%. Moreover, while the overall unemployment rate remains over 9 percent, a recent McKinsey report found that employers are having trouble filling specific positions because they could not find applicants with the right skills. The report projects that if economic conditions improve, there will be a shortage of 1.5 million workers with college degrees by 2020, but a surplus of almost 6 million of workers with no high school degree. It also projects a continuing shortage of workers with technical and health care skills not necessarily requiring a college degree.
Just about every such study points to a similar trend: for the foreseeable future, the US economy will need better educated workers with specific skill requirements. Workers without a post-secondary education face a contracting set of job opportunities. Those with higher educational attainments will be in the best position to obtain good jobs with good pay.
Thus, we need to significantly increase the number of students receiving post-secondary education. However, our colleges and universities, the very institutions to which the country should turn to help us address these increased educational demands, are facing problems of their own. Tuition costs have risen much faster than the rate of inflation and keep going up, thus making it harder for them to serve the students most in need of their services. Many educational institutions are facing financial difficulties. The financial crisis has been aggravating the situation, at both public and private institutions. Government education budgets are under huge pressure at all levels, - local, state and national.
Incremental steps will not make much of a dent on the problem. We need to look at higher education through the lens of disruptive innovation, argues a report published last February, - Disrupting College: How Disruptive Innovation Can Deliver Quality and Affordability to Postsecondary Education. The report is written by Clayton Christensen, Michael Horn, Louis Caldera and Louis Soares.
Continue reading "Innovation in Higher Education" »
Posted on September 26, 2011 at 06:00 AM in Complex Systems, Diversity, Economic Issues, Education and Talent , Innovation, Management and Leadership, Political Issues, Services Innovation, Society and Culture, Technology and Strategy | Permalink | Comments (1)
Continue reading "Social Business: e-business 2.0 . . . and Beyond" »
Continue reading "The Limits of Meritocracy" »
Posted on September 12, 2011 at 06:00 AM in Cloud Computing, Complex Systems, Economic Issues, Education and Talent , Innovation, Management and Leadership, Political Issues, Society and Culture, Technology and Strategy | Permalink | Comments (0)
The IBM Personal Computer was announced on August 12, 1981. Having sold its PC business to Lenovo in 2005, IBM itself did not mark the occasion, and as far as I know, neither did Lenovo or the other companies still selling IBM PC’s. But, the 30th anniversary of this important event in the history of computing was duly noted by IBM Fellow Mark Dean, - a member of the small team that designed the original machine, - in a nostalgic and thoughtful blog. At the beginning, Mark writes:
“It’s amazing to me to think that August 12 marks the 30th anniversary of the IBM Personal Computer. The announcement helped launch a phenomenon that changed the way we work, play and communicate. Little did we expect to create an industry that ultimately peaked at more than 300 million unit sales per year. I’m proud that I was one of a dozen IBM engineers who designed the first machine and was fortunate to have led subsequent IBM PC designs through the 1980s. It may be odd for me to say this, but I’m also proud IBM decided to leave the personal computer business in 2005, selling our PC division to Lenovo. While many in the tech industry questioned IBM’s decision to exit the business at the time, it’s now clear that our company was in the vanguard of the post-PC era.”
“I, personally, have moved beyond the PC as well. My primary computer now is a tablet. When I helped design the PC, I didn’t think I’d live long enough to witness its decline. But, while PCs will continue to be much-used devices, they’re no longer at the leading edge of computing. They’re going the way of the vacuum tube, typewriter, vinyl records, CRT and incandescent light bulbs.”
Continue reading "The Passing of an Era" »
Posted on September 05, 2011 at 06:00 AM in Cloud Computing, Innovation, Management and Leadership, Smart Systems, Supercomputing, Technology and Strategy | Permalink | Comments (0)