Conclusion and Recommendations
By working together, the university, its students, and the business community can all benefit. Survey results conclude that important business impact relationships exist between UW-Superior and the following sectors: Accommodation and Food Service, Finance and Insurance, and Management of Companies and Enterprise. This conclusion is derived from the average score of the survey response that presence of UW-Superior benefits a business. Other sectors where the university can strengthen its relationship are Public Administration, Other Services, Construction, and Real Estates. We can consider the low impact areas to be set as targets for enhancing and strengthening relationships between UW-Superior and the local community. First, the university can use incentives to encourage the students and employees to buy more from local businesses. This encouragement will show that the university appreciates the existence of local businesses. Second, most of the businesses in our survey did not hire any interns from the university, but had shown interest in hiring UW-Superior students. The university can work through units such as the Center for Community Engaged Learning to establish internship positions with these local businesses and organizations. By having a larger pool of qualified interns, the business community would have the opportunity to hire a more experienced, better trained, and more loyal labor force. This target on internship is then linked to the last target on employment. Local businesses in our sample employ on average about six UW-Superior graduates. Almost half of the respondents reported that no more than five of their current employees are UW-Superior graduates. This issue might be challenging since there are fewer jobs available in the area in the past decade. However, the university can set the goal to increase or maintain the number of UW-Superior graduates employed in the sectors that are showing demand such as Educational Services, Finance and Insurance, and Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation. The sectors where the university should strengthen the relationship in term of employment are Real Estate, Rentals, and Leasing, and Management of Companies and Enterprises. Through this active synergy, the community gains and economic vitality thrives. Businesses in the community may not currently have close ties to the university, but business survey respondents see the potential of coming together and growing together.
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To access to the full report including appendices, visit uwsuper.edu/econimpact
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