Campus, CSU, Long Beach, News

College graduates needed in science, technology, engineering and math

California public colleges are not producing enough graduates in the science, engineering, technology, mathematics and health fields, according to a press release from the Campaign for College Opportunity.

The Campaign for College Opportunity is a research and advocacy non-profit that works with the community and the state to support colleges and their students. It is comprised of different groups including the California Business Roundtable, the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund and the Community College League of California.

According to the report: “Needed: Sy(STEM)ic Response, How California’s Public Colleges and Universities are Key to Strengthening the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) and Health Workforce,” California has a high number of entry level STEM jobs and an increasing amount healthcare related work.

However, according to Forouzan Golshani, dean of the college of engineering at Cal State Long Beach, the trends shown in the report are not necessarily reflective of CSULB.

CSULB’s college of engineering has doubled in enrollment since Golshani became dean in 2007. Additionally, Golshani said the graduation rate for engineers has almost tripled.

Despite this, California public universities in general are not producing enough STEM and health care graduates to meet the workforce demand.

The report found that out of the 50 states, California ranks 48th for bachelor’s degree completion in health, 37th for engineering, and 38th for computer science.

Further, only 33 percent of students who start in the California State University system as a STEM major graduate with a STEM degree within six years.

Additionally, despite being larger than the University of California system, the CSU produces almost the same amount of graduates with bachelor’s degrees in engineering and computer science.

While California is one of the states with the biggest Latino population, it ranks near bottom for Latino graduates with STEM degrees.

Out of the ten states with the highest population of Latinos, California is 9th for Latino bachelor’s degrees in health, and 10th for computer science and engineering.

Michele Siqueiros, president of the Campaign for College Opportunity, said in statement that the mismatch between growing job availability and workers qualified for those jobs is part of a larger problem in California.

“Our public higher education system is not set up to produce the college educated workers our 21st century economy demands,” Siqueiros said.

According to the study, factors such as insufficient funding from the state and limited STEM and healthcare programs are some of the reasons for low graduation rates.

However, Dean Golshani estimates that CSULB awarded over 1,200 bachelor’s degrees in engineering and computer science this past year.

Aside from increased enrollment and graduation rates, Golshani said that the “time for graduation” has decreased in the past 6 years, from 6.1 years to 5.5.

When compared with other universities in the area, Golshani said the STEM program at CSULB is competitive.

“We compete very well against UCLA and UCI, we have an honors programs that put us in direct competition with the top schools in the region,” Golshani said.

The Campaign for College Opportunity outlined some steps the CSU system can take to fix this problem.

The organization has suggested increasing enrollment capacity at four-year universities, since students are more likely to graduate with a bachelor’s degree if they go straight to a four-year institution, rather than a community college.

Another suggestion is improving college readiness in high school, particularly in math and increasing outreach to African-American and Latino students.

Golshani said one of the reasons the college of engineering has been so successful in attracting students is because of outreach programs.

“We have a very active outreach program. We work with many of the school districts around us. We have program called the MESA (Math Engineering Science Achievement) program,” Golshani said. “With this we work with Long Beach Unified School District to help students see the value of a STEM degree”

Aside from the LBUSD, Golshani said the program targets other nearby schools, such as those in Cerritos, Bellflower and Lakewood.

However, despite how far CSULB’s STEM program has come, Golshani agreed that nation still needs more STEM graduates.

“California must take the steps necessary to ensure that our public colleges and universities meet the demands of the workforce,”  Siqueiros said in statement. “The solutions are within our reach, but it will take the concerted efforts of industry, policymakers and educators to open more opportunities for students and help keep them on a path to graduation and a job.”

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