Jindal announces higher ed funding hike, including workforce incentive initiative

Governor Bobby Jindal joined leaders from higher education systems across Louisiana on Tuesday to announce a funding increase of $141.5 million for higher education institutions for the next fiscal year. The funding hike represents a 6.66 percent increase over the budget for the current fiscal year. This funding includes a new higher education workforce incentive initiative of $40 million that will better prepare Louisiana students to compete in the new global economy.
The money in the incentive fund will be made available to state research institutions that produce nationally recognized commercial research and to state colleges and universities that partner with private industry to produce graduates with high-demand degrees and certificates, and enable them to link their coursework to industry needs and projected workforce demands.
The new incentive fund will be called the Workforce and Innovation for a Stronger Economy Fund – or WISE Fund. The funds will be made available to state research institutions that produce nationally recognized commercial research and to state colleges and universities that produce graduates with 4 and 5 STAR job ready degrees.
This performance based formula rewards and incentivizes the degrees that occupational forecasting and industry have shown are the most employable and the most in demand. To receive these funds, institutions will have to partner with private industry by recruiting at least a 20 percent private match in cash or in kind, such as technology and equipment.
Each institution will present a business plan that will demonstrate how the funds will be invested to reach the number of degrees we need as a state to fill the jobs we have now and in the next few years. And every year, each institution will be held accountable for reaching their goals to produce those degrees. Using data-driven predictive modeling with actual numbers from business and industry, experts were able to figure out how to predict how many and what level of degrees needed to meet workforce demands.
Governor Jindal said this collaboration between Louisiana Economic Development (LED), the Louisiana Workforce Commission, and the leaders of higher education has created a targeted investment strategy that spends dollars on the degrees needed to for the jobs coming to Louisiana.
These partnerships are already in the work at Louisiana’s colleges and universities. IBM has entered into a partnership with the LSU School of Engineering. As part of IBM’s project in downtown Baton Rouge, LSU committed to triple its computer science graduates in five years, which will place the LSU Computer Science program in the top 10-15 nationally for the number of B.S. degrees in computer science awarded nationally. The College will also expand its computer science programs and curriculum innovation, as LSU students will benefit from internship opportunities and more jobs upon graduation, keeping the best and brightest in the state.
In the UL System, LED recently partnered with UNO and GE Capital for the creation of the GE Capital's Software Engineering Apprenticeship program. By the end of 2015, GE Capital plans to hire 40 UNO students enrolled in the computer science program in apprentice positions. SWEAP provides students at UNO with specialized training, experience and mentorship opportunities which will set them apart from other graduates.
Bossier Parish Community College recently received a $750,000 investment from EnCana Oil & Gas and Shell E&P to create an Oil & Gas Production Technology program. In New Orleans, Delgado partnered with 45 regional manufacturing and construction firms such as Laitram, Cornerstone, Shell, and Bollinger, in addition to UNO, Southeastern, and Nicholls, to produce 1,500 qualified graduates over four years for the booming manufacturing sector.
Southern University recently partnered with Genesis Energy to create a $100,000 scholarship fund, invest $25,000 in Southern’s Civil and Engineering labs, and help Southern ensure its curricula were aligned with the workforce needs of Genesis, among other things.