“Tapping America’s Potential: The Education for Innovation Initiative” is available from the Business Roundtable.
Fifteen business groups have released an action plan to double the number of graduates earning bachelor’s degrees in mathematics, science, technology and engineering in the next decade.
In a report, the business groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business-Higher Education Forum, call for upgrading math and science teaching in elementary and secondary schools, and reforming immigration policies to attract and retain international students who excel in these subjects, among other recommendations.
The report says the number of students planning to pursue engineering degrees declined by one-third between 1992 and 2002. It adds that funding for basic research in the physical sciences as a percentage of the gross domestic product has declined by half since 1970.
