Florida’s higher education coordinating council wants to see more working age Floridians with certifications and degrees.
The council wants to see fifty-five percent of Floridians between the age of 25 and 64 earning industry certifications or degrees by 2025. State University system governing board chairman Alan Levine says it will require greater coordination between the state’s primary schools and its higher education system.
“If we establish this as a goal for the state we have to get the policy markers and the legislators and folks that can make this happen—they have to buy into this. From the Board of Governors to the Board of Education," he says.
State University System Chancellor Marshall Criser says Florida is following a national trend.
“We’re not the first. We won’t be the last. But I think it still tells us this is incredibly important and it’s an important national conversation. It’s a conversation that’s originating at the state level, and working together, we’re moving the needle across the country.”
The council is incorporating its goal into a grant application to the Lumina Foundation. The private organization wants to see 60 percent of Americans with some form of college degree, certificate or other advanced credential by 2025.
