The Virginia Economic Development Partnership (VEDP) is partnering with Virginia’s public institutions of higher education to generate more leads for corporate recruitment.
A Memorandum of Understanding signed by VEDP, the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) and Virginia public colleges and universities, establishes the goals of promoting “core strengths, assets and expertise of Virginia and its public institutions of higher education,” identifying legislative priorities, meeting regularly to align strategies, and publishing annual summary of results.
“There is a pressing and profound need to build the next generation of economic development on the foundation of Virginia’s stellar public institutions of higher education,” said Martin Briley, VEDP President and CEO in a press release from the Governor’s Office. “This MOU signed today provides a meaningful blueprint to more fully leverage higher education as a differentiator in our economic development outreach marketing, and it reinforces the message to our corporate partners that our public colleges and universities are dedicated to leveraging research and workforce assets to benefit the business community and grow, retain, and recruit corporate investment and jobs in the Commonwealth of Virginia.”
Bacon’s bottom line: This sounds good in theory, although, as described in the press release, one is tempted to ask, “Where’s the beef?” Concrete details are sparse.
Will the VEDP, which focuses on corporate recruitment, pitch the job-training and R&D capabilities of Virginia’s colleges and universities? Will colleges, which cultivate their own corporate relationships, refer corporate-investment leads to VEDP? Will VEDP and university development officials go on joint marketing missions?
If so, it sounds like a sensible idea. Kudos to the McDonnell administration for building functional relationships that cross departmental silos
— JAB
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