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Partnering with the White House on “Educate to Innovate”
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Posted by Pamela Passman
Corporate Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs
Pamela Passman, Corporate Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs
Today, President Obama is announcing “Educate to Innovate,” a national initiative aimed at inspiring students to develop the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills that will help them become the problem solvers of tomorrow. The future of our nation’s economic competitiveness is directly related to the ability of our young people to use such skills to innovate across a range of fields, including IT, manufacturing, energy and health care.
Now more than ever, all students need specialized knowledge to succeed in our complex, technologically advanced and globally competitive world. The vast majority of family-wage jobs in the 21st century will require employees with technical skills and an aptitude for life-long learning.
Across the U.S., student performance on international math and science benchmarks lags behind that of their peers from other nations such as England, China and Japan. The disparities are even greater for low-income and minority students. To maintain America’s competitiveness in rapidly growing, technology-dependent industries, we must work especially hard to encourage young women and minority students that their contributions are needed and valued in science and technology fields. Expanding the base of students interested in STEM throughout our society is not only a matter of ensuring that all young people have access to economic opportunities, but also a business imperative if the U.S. economy is to grow and prosper.
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Teaching 21st Century Skills for Employability
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Posted by Lutz Ziob,
General Manager, Microsoft Learning
The disappointing U.S. employment numbers released today demonstrate again the importance of providing students and workers with the best possible education to compete in the 21st century global economy. Unemployment is rising even as employers continue to struggle to find enough workers with technical and other needed skills. Specifically, lack of computer skills is a barrier for many job seekers. Equipping current and future workers with appropriate skills and competencies is critical to U.S. economic strength and competitiveness.
We still have a long way to go. Workforce development resources are inadequate to cope with the overwhelming number of workers in need of assistance. The federally-funded workforce training system served an impressive six million people last year, but managed to provide training to only about 410,000 of them, according to the U.S. Dept. of Labor. Yet, significant new federal resources are unlikely to be available in the near future to broaden the reach of workforce readiness training.
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Promoting Innovations to 21st Century Careers
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Posted by Fred Humphries
Managing Director U.S. Government Affairs
At Microsoft, we believe that equipping students and workers with the education and skills they need to compete in the 21st century global economy is critical to U.S. economic and national security. Indeed, despite the economic downturn and high unemployment rates, Microsoft and thousands of our partners continue to struggle to find workers with the knowledge and experience necessary to help our businesses compete and grow.
These skill shortages exist despite significant investments by Microsoft and our like-minded partners to grow the pipeline of science, technology, engineering and math students through programs such as Partners in Learning, which provides curricula and class materials, and DreamSpark, which offers students free software.
But even if we succeed in developing a deep pool of highly skilled IT workers in the U.S., there will still be substantial workforce development needs to keep the U.S. economy evolving and growing long-term. For instance, there has been much talk in Washington, D.C., about the wave of new green jobs and health IT occupations that are likely to emerge over the next decade. Such occupations will also require that job seekers possess a basic platform of skills to prosper in a global economy.
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Microsoft and Boys and Girls Clubs of America: Training tomorrow’s leaders
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Posted by Pamela Passman
Corporate Vice President
There are few institutions that can boast an alumni list that includes Bill Cosby, Michael Jordan, Brad Pitt and Bill Clinton. There are even fewer that have been positively impacting the lives of young people for over 100 years.
But that’s exactly what Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) has been doing. BGCA challenges kids to “BE GREAT” while providing a supportive environment that fosters learning and development. In fact, some 52 percent of Club alumni feel that the Club saved their life. BGCA’s incredible work is helping kids across the United States and on U.S .military bases around the world.
BGCA has been consistently successful because it adapts to the changing needs of our youth, while providing a consistent, supportive environment in the neighborhoods where it operates.
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Celebrating 10 Years of Service to Annapolis’ Clay Street Neighborhood
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Posted by Fred Humphries
Managing Director, U.S. Government Affairs
At Microsoft, we talk a lot about the power of technology to transform people’s lives and expand their opportunities. This morning, I had the pleasure of witnessing that power first-hand while attending a celebration of the Clay Street Computer Learning Center’s 10 years of service to a low-income neighborhood in Annapolis, Md.
Stocked with computers and educational software for all ages , the Clay Street Center offers an after-school program that gives the neighborhood’s kids a place to get help with their homework and to use, and learn more about, computers and the Internet. During the summer months, the Center brings kids into the lab as part of an ongoing program that enables them to keep and build their computer skills when school is not in session. And during the fall and winter, the Clay Street Center offers participants a hot meal.
I was particularly moved by seeing Clay Street founder Mary Wolf with Tye Curtis, one of the Center’s summer workers and a graduate of the center. As a young man, Tye helped Mary set up the computers in the Clay Street Center and visited for many years, taking advantage of the safe and nurturing environment it provided. This December, Tye expects to graduate from Southern University in Louisiana with a degree in computer science.
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Updating Educational Assessments to Measure “21st Century Skills”
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Posted by Michael Golden
Corporate Vice President, Education Products Group
As educators, policy makers and business leaders gather in Washington, D.C., this week for the National Education Computing Conference, there will be a lot of talk about the need to equip students with “21st century skills.”
But what exactly are “21st century skills”? And, more importantly, how are we measuring them, and how are we ensuring that teachers and schools around the world are providing students with the tools necessary to succeed in the economy of today and tomorrow?
At the highest level, 21st century skills encompass everything that students need to succeed in our competitive and increasingly complex world. Technology skills obviously fall under that umbrella, along with traditional priorities such as math, science and communication. But increasingly other skills are being recognized as critical to 21st century success, including “right brain” skills such as creativity and critical thinking, as described in Daniel Pink’s book, A Whole New Mind. Other prerequisites include problem solving, collaboration, time management and self-direction, as advocated by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills.
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High-Skilled Immigration Must be Part of Comprehensive Reform
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Posted by Fred Humphries
Managing Director U.S. Government Affairs
Today marks an important new beginning for efforts to repair the United States’ flawed immigration system. We at Microsoft congratulate President Obama for convening a bipartisan meeting at the White House on immigration reform, and commend the members of Congress who participated. Most immigration experts agree our system needs big changes, so I’m pleased to see the broad participation in this important process.
Nonetheless, we remain concerned that a serious discussion of high-skilled immigration policies has not yet begun, and we believe it must be included in any comprehensive reform. If the U.S. is to remain at the cutting edge of innovation, we must ensure that our businesses can attract and hire the best talent from around the globe.
As Brad Smith blogged earlier this year, immigration policies that attract highly-skilled workers are critical for job creation and long-term economic growth. America’s economic recovery will come from innovation within America’s borders – in its laboratories, board rooms and research centers. By giving American businesses access to the talent they need, they will be able to grow and generate additional American jobs. The more bright minds who contribute to innovation on American soil, the faster our country will return to a position of economic strength.
Now more than ever, we need smart policies to build the innovation workforce of the future.
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E-skills and Economic Recovery in Europe
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Posted by Sylvie Laffarge
Director Community Affairs, Europe
If anyone was wondering how badly the global recession is affecting Europe, recent jobs data provide a chilling answer.
More than 20 million Europeans were out of work in March, up 25 percent from the same period a year ago, and the tally could exceed 22 million by the end of the year. In Spain, a stunning 17.4 percent of workers were unemployed in March.
As in other parts of the world, European governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are now anxiously looking for ways to provide jobs and make European workers more employable. As we’ve demonstrated with our support for thousands of community technology skills training programs around the world, Microsoft believes providing people with greater digital skills is an important part of the solution.
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Fulfilling our Pledge to Bolster America’s Workforce
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Posted by Pamela Passman
Corporate Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs
Today marks an important milestone in Microsoft’s effort to provide technology training to at least two million people over the next three years.
At the downtown Seattle office of WorkSource, a public-private partnership dedicated to addressing Washington state's employment needs, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith and I joined Washington Governor Chris Gregoire to announce that Microsoft will provide 30,000 vouchers for free technology training and certification exams to individuals across the state.
This makes Washington the debut state for Elevate America, which we are in the process of rolling out across the country.
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Microsoft Applauds the DREAM Act
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Posted by Fred Humphries
Managing Director, U.S. Government Affairs
Late last week we sent letters of support to the House and Senate sponsors of an important piece of legislation known as the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act. The DREAM Act, as it is commonly known, would permit a limited number of undocumented immigrant students to become permanent U.S. residents if they came here as children, are long-term U.S. residents, have good moral character and attend college or enlist in the military for at least two years.
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