Aligning Regional Development and Higher Education

Alignment of stakeholders is a key challenge and opportunity for sector strategies, both at the state policy level and at the regional initiative level.

Yet despite the growing connection between regional development and higher education,there is a clear consensus that regional developers have not, as a rule, captured the full benefit of their higher education institutions. !ere is a growing realization among academic leaders too that more can be done to optimize local and regional relationships. One recent report refers to higher education as the “sleeping giant” with the potential to transform community development.

COOPERATE: A Practitioner’s Guide for Effective Alignment of Regional Development and Higher Education, offers practical suggestions for fostering collaboration and building long term partnerships. The report was prepared for the U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration by the Council on Competitiveness.