It’s a basic premise. One everyone agrees with.
New Jersey must do a better job connecting higher education to workforce development if it hopes to remain economically competitive and keep more students — and talent — in state.
“There is an incredible disconnect between employment and most universities, K-12,” Lt. Gov. Dale Caldwell said, adding that the gap extends through the entire K-12 system, including vocational programs.
Caldwell, speaking at the Morris County installment of the governor’s 21-county “Save Time and Money” tour, said the new administration is working to change that.
There needs to be better communication, he told a crowd of more than 100 last Friday at the COMET advanced manufacturing center in Landing.
Caldwell has the background to make the point. Prior to becoming lieutenant governor, he served as president of Centenary University. That followed a stint as the head of the Rothman Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at FDU — and he served on the New Brunswick Board of Education for 26 years.
Caldwell said there needs to be better outreach, arguing that awareness must reach as far down as middle school to ensure students get the skills they need, so they’re ready for the workforce going forward.
“It’s very hard for us to be cheaper than some southern states,” Caldwell said. “But our goal is to make sure we have the best-educated workforce in the United States of America, and that’s going to attract people from around the world.”
Kellie Doucette, the state’s chief operating officer, framed the challenge as one of coordination rather than intent.
“One of the places that we’ve identified in the state is that workforce programs sit across so many different entities right now,” she said, “and those entities don’t always talk to each other and coordinate and work toward a common purpose.”
That coordination effort has already begun.
They both noted increased outreach by the administration in its first 100-plus days.
“I think we’re going to see things considerably different,” Iacono said, citing signs that state officials increasingly understand the need to link education and employment. “They understand the need to link education and the workforce, and they understand the benefits that come out of it.”
Lim said the same focus now comes up consistently in his discussions with state leaders.
“Each conversation I have with Lt. Governor Caldwell or Kellie, the workforce comes out from their mouth,” Lim said. “They want us to focus on workforce.”
That perspective, Lim said, extends beyond traditional college students, noting that NJIT runs programs that bring middle- and high-school students to campus year-round.
Students from Newark and surrounding areas earn math and science credits through dual-credit programs so when they come to NJIT — or anywhere else — they’re ahead of the game, Lim said.
“Focusing not just on traditional higher ed, but K to 16, is incredibly useful,” he said.
Iacono emphasized that community colleges already function as critical workforce and transfer hubs, often through intentional partnerships.
He pointed to evidence of that collaboration in practice.
“Right here in this center, about 25% of the students are coming from my community college,” Iacono said. “Roughly 80% of my students who want to go into engineering, they’re going straight to NJIT. It’s not accidental. We designed that.”
Still, both leaders agreed the current system places too much burden on individual institutions rather than statewide policy.
Lim pointed to transfer practices as a key example.
“We don’t transfer course work; we transfer degree programs,” he said, describing the model in Texas, where he previously worked. “If somebody finished an associate degree from County College of Morris, that degree should translate to the third year and the fourth year in our program.”
In New Jersey, Lim said, the course-by-course approach creates inefficiencies.
“If you do the coursework-course transfer, you’ll lose credit hours,” he said. “We transfer course by course. It’s very difficult.”
The consequences, Iacono said, extend beyond campus budgets.
“Because there is no plan and no organized system, we remain the number one exit state of high school graduates,” he said. “Students walk across the high school graduation stage and in record numbers leave the state.”
It’s a lose-lose situation, Iacono said.
“That hits my enrollment very hard,” he said, “but ultimately, we’re not the ones who pay the biggest price. There aren’t people to fill the roles needed by the healthcare industry, the life sciences, the manufacturers.”
Lim agreed that the state’s higher-education system is affected by student outmigration.
“It appears we have an overcapacity here because we’re losing students,” he said, contrasting New Jersey with Texas, where he said only about five percent of students leave the state for college. “We need to keep more students here so we can educate them.”
Iacono suggested the solution ultimately requires sustained state commitment.
“In other states, they’re not fooling around,” he said. “They invest in K-12, and they want to keep that investment in state.”
Until New Jersey fully aligns education and workforce policy, he suggested, the state will continue training students for other states’ economies.
“We should be getting thank-you letters from many other states,” Iacono said. “You did a great job — thanks for sending us a college-ready, fully prepared student.”
