The 2007 IEI Forum -- February 1 & 2

At the 2007 Emerging Issues Forum, entitled “Transforming Higher Education: A
Competitive Advantage for North Carolina,” international, national and state
leaders and experts spoke of the unprecedented and urgent need to transform our systems of higher education to better position our nation and our state to compete in the global economy.

The Forum was organized around the three themes of IEI’s working groups:
1.) Economic and Community Development, 2.) Innovation, Technology and
Entrepreneurship, and 3.) Educating All North Carolinians. The priorities produced by each working group were presented at the Forum and served to significantly shape the Forum agenda and the speakers’ remarks.

During the Forum, we heard from such speakers as Mark Emmert, President of the
University of Washington, and Ryan Wuerch, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Motricity, who stressed the significant positive impact that an engaged institution of higher learning can have on a community, its businesses and its people.

IEI was honored to host the former Minister of Education from South Korea, Ja Song, whose powerful comments reminded us that there are many countries, South Korea included, that have made superior educational attainment a priority. Joseph Hadzima, Director of the MIT Enterprise Forum, added to this message by underscoring the significant role that entrepreneurship and innovation play in building a competitive workforce.

Charles Reed, Chancellor of The California State University, warned us that if we continue to educate the same number of people tomorrow as we do today, we will experience the largest workforce gap in modern history. In order to compete in the new economy, a greater number of North Carolinians than ever before must receive postsecondary training. Therefore, as Martha Lamkin, President and CEO of the Lumina Foundation forcefully reminded us, we must significantly increase access to higher education for all underserved populations.