Using Workforce Information for Degree Program Planning in Texas

Charles A. Goldman ; Lindsay Butterfield ; Diana Lavery ; Trey Miller ; Lindsay Daugherty ; Trinidad Beleche ; Bing Han

RAND Corporation

RAND Corporation

关键词: Postsecondary Education Programs;    Occupations;    Employment and Unemployment;    Labor Markets;    Texas;   

DOI  :  10.7249/RR1011
RP-ID  :  RR-1011-CFAT

学科分类：自然科学（综合）

美国|英语

来源: RAND Corporation Published Research

【 摘 要 】

In May 2013, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 1296, requiring a report on Texas's future workforce needs that would help inform decisions to develop or expand postsecondary education programs. Educators and policymakers in Texas and elsewhere have a wide variety of quantitative and qualitative workforce information available for planning degree and certificate programs in colleges and universities. Such information can serve at least three major purposes: (1) strategic review of program alignment at the state or institutional level; (2) a broader strategic scan of occupations and fields of study where new programs may be needed; and (3) institutional proposal development for the opening and closing of programs, and the subsequent review of these proposals by the state. To guide the use of these data resources and to respond to the legislative requirement, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board asked the RAND Corporation to describe current practices in using workforce information for degree program planning in Texas and elsewhere; analyze options for using workforce information and recommend promising practices; develop data tools, where feasible; and apply these tools and describe findings. One of the major tools the project develops is a matrix that allows convenient comparisons of occupational supply and demand at the state and regional levels. This report is the result of that project.