After launching the “Ready, Set, Work” challenge to Florida Technical Colleges and Centers to employ all of their graduates, Gov. Rick Scott turned his attention to public universities across the Sunshine State on Wednesday.
Unveiling the second part of the “Ready, Set, Work” challenge, Scott called on public universities to ensure 100 percent employment for graduates of its two most popular degree programs a year after graduation. Students who are headed to graduate school are not included in the mix.
“Parents dream of their children being gainfully employed in a career field of their interest,” Scott said on Wednesday. “In order to achieve this dream, families save and plan for years to afford to attend a state university. Yet, far too many university students are graduating today, some after spending years of their family’s savings and others after taking on decades of debt, not able to find a job. Our state-funded universities can and must do more to help graduates get a good paying job.
“Today, I am challenging all state universities to better align their degrees with a student’s opportunity to get a job when they graduate,” Scott added. “We must make a commitment to students that they will be able to get a job when they graduate, and that is why I am asking all our state universities to accept the challenge of ensuring 100 percent of graduates getting their two most popular degrees will be able to get a job within a year of graduation.
“We should be aiming for 100 percent job placement within a year of graduation – especially with a university’s most popular degrees,” Scott said in closing. “We fund state universities to help students get a job when they graduate. That is a family’s dream when they send their child through higher education, and I know all of our schools will rise to this challenge to help every student get ready and work.”
Scott pointed to numbers from the Board of Governors showing around 60 percent of graduates of schools’ two most popular majors find employment within a year.
The most popular degrees at the University of Florida (UF) are business administration and management and psychology. At Florida State University (FSU), the two most popular degrees are English language and literature and psychology. The most popular degrees at the University of South Florida (USF) are psychology and criminology. Psychology is also the most popular degree at Florida International University (FIU) along with business administration and management. The University of Central Florida’s (UCF) two most popular degrees are psychology and registered nursing. The most popular degrees at Florida Atlantic University (FAU) are accounting and elementary education and teaching. At Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU), the most popular degrees are mass communication and business administration and management. Mass communication is also the most popular degree at the University of North Florida (UNF) along with psychology. The most popular degrees at Florida A&M University (FAM) are criminal justice and business administration and management. At the University of West Florida (UWF), the most popular degrees are mass communication and health and physical education/fitness.
Scott called on universities to accept the challenge by the middle of January when the Legislature starts its regular session. Last month, facing the same deadline, 44 of the 48 technical colleges and centers agreed to Scott’s challenge.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
