This week Washington STEM hosted its second annual summit at Microsoft’s Redmond-campus. Over the lunch hour, the audience heard from Microsoft’s Brad Smith and Governor Jay Inslee on the importance of STEM education, both at the K-12 and post-secondary levels, to the state economy. (Read highlights from the day in this report from the Redmond Reporter)
PIC: @BradSmi of @Microsoft kicks off lunch conversation at @Washingtonstem summit. #wastem #waedu pic.twitter.com/4XqcqAvTPg
— UW Government & Community Relations (@UWGOV) December 2, 2013
In an interview with McKinstry CEO Dean Allen, Gov. Inslee noted that one of his leading indicators in the Results Washington program under “World-Class Education” is increasing the number of graduates in STEM and high-demand programs from the state’s public baccalaureate institutions.
The jobs “skills gap” is particularly troubling, the Governor noted, because it means that many high-skilled jobs the state is producing go to workers with degrees recruited from outside the state.
Answering a question about what’s next for the upcoming legislative session, Governor Inslee said he was pleased with investments in the 2013-2015 budget to increase Computer Science & Engineering enrollments at UW, WSU, and WWU — and that he hoped to continue that progress moving forward.
PIC: @GovInslee & Dean Allen of McKinstry discussing importance of STEM education to state economy. #wastem pic.twitter.com/OXVQFJJxOQ
— UW Government & Community Relations (@UWGOV) December 2, 2013