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A policy agenda was recently unveiled by our President during the State of Union address. According to him, this agenda was created just to position America in a strategically winning position that can create jobs for its citizens in this highly innovative, competitive and challenging global market.

He stressed on the fact that it was impossible for our country to compete on a global level with the outdated policies and proposed certain bold ideas. He also said that he was prepared to compromise to a great extent to ensure implementation of these ideas.

This agenda, like for most states, if implemented in the right manner, is the only hope for New Jersey. Educated workforce has been the backbone of this Garden State for decades. Workers here who had the potential to “win the future” were sought after by major businesses.

New Jersey’s higher education system has been playing a major role in the state’s phenomenal development in the field of solar energy, in the cutting edge research in pharmaceutical industry and in other major innovative industries. Graduates from this state have always been trained to tackle any kind of challenges and are always eager to innovate.

What cannot be explained is the state’s reluctance to do away with outdated policies and agendas that are no more effective and to adopt newer models for its universities and colleges that can help retain the its supremacy.

Of course, there is no doubt a major financial crunch that makes fiscal restraint imperative just as in all other states of our country. However, considering the overall benefits of education and its long term implications, it is necessary for all to invest in their own success.

Higher education in New Jersey, sadly, is funded at levels that existed in the nineties. To top this, Governor Christie has implemented huge budget cuts that may actually push New Jersey far behind which in turn will lead to fewer number of jobs due to low quality or lesser education.

Challenges faced by New Jersey universities and colleges were examined in a report released by the Governor’s higher education task force a few months back. This report came with certain recommendations to tackle the issues. 

However, there is a major conflict between these recommendations and Governor’s past policies. Today, New Jersey is not very competitive and job creation is suffering to a great extent due to increased college costs.

A law was passed by the Democrats last year that required the Governor to cut red tape, streamline bureaucracy and appoint a higher education secretary to coordinate policies. Though the task force agreed upon this, the Governor failed to act on it for over a year. It is high time New Jersey administrators realize that we cannot “win the future” by allowing our boat to float without a rudder. We are now drifting around without a specific direction.

It is time we woke up and fine tuned our policies to give direction to our higher education field and ensure that our state once again regains its position at the top.