New WEDC Position to Coordinate Statewide Talent Attraction Efforts
October 4, 2017
Matt Hora, director of the Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions (CCWT), was quoted in the Wisconsin State Journal on a new position being created at the Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.
Wisconsin has historically struggled to attract people to the state and to keep college graduates who aren’t from here originally. According to a 2016 UW-Madison report, among bachelor’s degree alumni from the previous decade who were originally from Wisconsin, 78 percent still lived in Wisconsin, while only 9 percent originally from other places remained.
Meanwhile, about 60 percent of UW System graduates participate in internships before graduation, Brukardt said. UW System president Ray Cross has set a goal of 100 percent of graduates participating in internships before graduation, recognizing that early interaction with local businesses could increase the chance that UW graduates stay in the state.
However, the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at UW-Madison recently found the overall design of most internship programs around the world to be haphazard and inconsistent, and that it takes considerable resources to make an internship program effective.
“Trying to knit together some closer relationships is not a bad thing in terms of regional workforce development and boosting local entrepreneurs,” said Matt Hora, director of WCER’s Center for Research on College-Workforce Transitions. “It’s something that should be pursued, just not at the expense of the other educational missions of the colleges and universities in the System.”
