Better by Degrees

The Western New York Consortium of Higher Education, with funding from The John R. Oishei Foundation, commissioned the UB Regional Institute to assess the role of higher education in advancing the region’s knowledge economy, based on the premise that the industry is a major but underutilized economic driver. Working in partnership with 22 major colleges and universities in the region, the institute developed several reports assessing the industry’s capacity to meet regional workforce needs, the industry’s overall economic impact, the nature of higher education collaboration in the region, and peer-region strategies to leverage higher education for economic growth.