This publication is part of the OECD project on the labour market relevance and outcomes of higher education and made possible by the support of the Lumina Foundation.
The OECD is grateful for the support of the state teams in Ohio, Texas, Virginia and Washington, led by Cheri Rice at the Ohio Department of Higher Education; Ginger Gossman, Jenna Cullinane Hege and David Gardner at the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board; Peter Blake and Alan Edwards at the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV); and Isaak Kwakye, Michael Meotti and Daryl Monear at the Washington Student Achievement Council (WSAC). The state teams provided invaluable information to the OECD team, organised the team’s visits across the four states, generously hosted the stakeholder workshops, and provided thoughtful comments on draft chapters. The authors are also grateful for the input of Maureen McLaughlin, Mark Schneider, Emily Slack and Diane Jones from the US Department of Education during the team’s visit to Washington DC.
Our warm thanks go to the many experts and stakeholders across the four participating states and Washington, DC, who have shared their time and insights with the OECD team throughout the project. More than 200 stakeholder organisations across the four states participated in the interviews and workshops; representing government agencies, higher education institutions, employers, business associations, non-profit organisations and other organisations (a full list is available in Annex A of this report). The insights and opinions of stakeholders provided the OECD team with important contextual information that contributed to the interpretation of published data and research and to the formulation of policy recommendations.
We are grateful to Courtney Brown, Vice President of Strategic Impact, Lumina Foundation, who provided guidance and support throughout the life of the project; and to Kevin Stange, Associate Professor, University of Michigan Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, who shared expert guidance on the project planning and analysis and reviewed draft material at several points during the project.
The authors also wish to thank colleagues in the OECD for their input and advice, including Nora Brüning, Andrea-Rosalinde Hofer, Margarita Kalamova, Shizuka Kato and Cláudia Sarrico in the Higher Education Policy team, and Douglas Sutherland from the OECD Economics Department. We also wish to thank Shane Samuelson (Australian Government Department of Education) and Liam Lynch (Employment and Social Development Canada, Government of Canada), former members of the OECD Higher Education Policy team, for their contributions to the early development of the project.
While the report draws on data and analysis from the OECD, US and state sources, and a range of other published sources, any errors or misinterpretations remain the responsibility of the OECD team.
This report was prepared by the OECD’s Higher Education Policy team in the Directorate for Education and Skills. Patricia Mangeol was the project leader responsible for co-ordinating the review. The authors of this report were: Chapter 1 (Introduction), Patricia Mangeol and Thomas Weko; Chapter 2 (United States context), Jonathan Williams, Monica Hanssen, Patricia Mangeol and Thomas Weko; Chapter 3 (Four states in a comparative perspective): Patricia Mangeol, Monica Hanssen, Simon Roy and Gillian Golden; Chapter 4 (Ohio), Simon Roy and Gillian Golden; Chapter 5 (Texas), Patricia Mangeol and Monica Hanssen; Chapter 6 (Virginia), Simon Roy and Monica Hanssen, Chapter 7 (Washington), Patricia Mangeol and Monica Hanssen. Théodore Berut and Loris Vergolini developed the comparative context and scorecard tables presented in Chapter 3; Chloé Michaud and Carlos Moura Teixeira researched and drafted international policy examples. Théodore Berut, Maxence Castiello, Massimo Loi, and Loris Vergolini provided statistical analysis and support, with guidance from Gabriele Marconi. Thomas Weko, team leader and senior analyst of the OECD Higher Education Policy team, provided analytical guidance and advice throughout the project. Paulo Santiago, Head of the Policy Advice and Implementation Division in the Directorate of Education and Skills and Andreas Schleicher, Director of the Directorate for Education and Skills, reviewed the publication.
Cassandra Morley edited the report and provided administrative support to the project. Rachel Linden assisted with the editorial and production processes.