Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) Proposal to Implement & Evaluate Models for Business Engagement to Increase Undergraduate STEM Student Persistence

由于商业部门在改善本科STEM教育方面一直是一个未充分利用的资源，而且对行业与高等教育合作伙伴关系的研究很少，因此商业-高等教育论坛（BHEF）旨在解决这些差距。通过这个项目BHEF是（1）整合实施和研究工作的持久性和程度的实现在干和（2）支持和检查一套商业高等教育的合作伙伴关系，特别注意学生从2年制院校的转移到4年制院校的学习计划，影响国家利益的领域。 该项目的重点是实施和审查循证干预措施（例如，课程战略/活动和学生支持服务），旨在支持学生的坚持和学位获得。为了这些目的，BHEF成立了本科生STEM干预与行业（US 2 I）联盟，以开发，实施和检查基于证据的战略，有效，和可持续参与的行业在课程战略/活动和学生支持服务，旨在提高STEM学生的持久性和学位完成。本研究与发展项目所涉及的主要问题&是：（1）企业与高等教育伙伴关系的不同模式如何有效解决STEM的持续性和毕业问题？ (2)确保可持续性和有效性的商业-高等教育伙伴关系的基本要素是什么？ (3)基于设计的实施研究（DBIR）作为一种研究和开发工业-高等教育合作伙伴支持的干预措施的方法有多大用处？(4)什么是移民分析技术的优势和局限性，在跟踪和评估学生从2年制院校转移到4年制课程和STEM学位的实现？定量和定性的混合方法研究设计将收集学生的学术进步，高等教育机构和系统的过程中，个别企业的参与，行业联盟的效率，以及企业和学术领导的参与数据。 该研究整合了调查研究，焦点小组，访谈和学生跟踪方法，以检查五个商业高等教育试点工作。 分析将使用一套策略进行，包括多元回归，学生迁移分析，建模，案例内和跨案例分析。BHEF是财富500强首席执行官和大学校长的全国性组织。在过去和当前活动的基础上，五个BHEF伙伴关系和感兴趣的领域是：（1）纽约IBM城市大学：大规模数据分析和城市可持续性;（2）迈阿密戴德学院新时代能源：信息技术和网络安全;（3）马萨诸塞州大学（马萨诸塞州竞争伙伴关系）：生命科学、工程学和计算机科学;（4）威斯康星州大学密尔沃基水理事会：水科学;（5）圣路易斯华盛顿大学波音工程系。

Since the business sector has been a largely underutilized resource in improving undergraduate STEM education and there is little research on industry-higher education partnerships, the Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) seeks to address these gaps. Through this project BHEF is (1) integrating implementation and research efforts on persistence and degree attainment in STEM and (2) supporting and examining a set of business-higher education partnerships with particular attention to the transfer of students from 2-year institutions to 4-year institutions in programs of study that impact areas of national interest. The project focuses on the implementation and examination of evidence-based interventions (e.g., curricular strategies/activities and student support services) designed to support student persistence and degree attainment.Towards these ends BHEF has formed the Undergraduate STEM Interventions with Industry (US2I) consortium to develop, implement, and examine evidence-based models of strategic, effective, and sustainable engagement of industries in curricular strategies/activities and student support services designed to increase STEM student persistence and degree completion. The key questions addressed in this R&D project are: (1) In what ways are the different models of business-higher education partnerships effective in addressing the problems of persistence and graduation in STEM? (2) What are the essential elements of business-higher education partnerships that ensure sustainability and effectiveness? (3) How useful is Designed-Based Implementation Research (DBIR) as a method for research and development of interventions supported by industry-higher education partnerships? (4) What are the strengths and limitations of migration analysis techniques in tracking and assessing the transfer of students from 2-year institutions to 4-year programs and degree attainment in STEM? A quantitative and qualitative mixed methods rsearch design will collect data on student academic progress, higher education institutional and systems processes, individual corporate engagement, efficacy of industry consortia, and involvement of corporate and academic leadership. The study integrates survey research, focus groups, interviews, and student tracking methodologies to examine five business-higher education pilot efforts. Analyses will be conducted using a suite of strategies that will include multiple regression, student migration analysis, modeling, and within-case and cross-case analyses.BHEF is a national organization of Fortune 500 CEOs and university presidents. Building on past and current activities, the five BHEF partnerships and domains of interests are:(1) City University of New York & IBM: Large-scale data analytics and urban sustainability; (2) Miami-Dade College & New Era Energy: Information technology and cybersecurity;(3) University of Massachusetts & the Massachusetts Competitive Partnership: Life science, engineering, and computer science;(4) University of Wisconsin & the Milwaukee Water Council: Water Science; and(5) Washington University in St. Louis & Boeing: Engineering.