Indiana University President Michael A. McRobbie said the state's strategy for leading in today’s highly competitive marketplace by attracting talent and a well-trained workforce is working in this commentary published by the Indianapolis Star.
"Indeed, Indiana’s focus on keeping its talent pipeline full is generating very positive results," he said, noting that Amazon recently chose Indianapolis as a finalist for its second headquarters. "But in what has truly become a global race for talent, we cannot afford to slow down, which means providing the highest-quality education to Hoosiers while also simultaneously attracting the best and brightest students from all across the nation and around the world."
McRobbie pointed out that seven in every 10 IU graduates are Indiana residents, and that 25 percent of the school's undergraduates are from other states or overseas.
"Repeated studies show that one of the leading determinants of where a person will settle down is where they attend college," he wrote. "In a state where we regularly hear about the difficulties employers have in attracting enough qualified talent to their enterprises and where population growth is relatively flat, this “brain gain” – on top of the tens of thousands of Hoosiers we and the state’s other top colleges and universities graduate each year – is one of the most important contributions we make to Indiana."