Business-Higher Education Forum

The Business-Higher Education Forum (BHEF) convenes senior business and higher education executives to advance solutions to U.S. education and workforce challenges. This renewal grant would support BHEF to highlight the central role of deeper learning in the growing fields of data science and cyber security by hosting convenings in the field and annual meetings of its CEO membership, as well as developing case studies and briefs that address policy reform. This work would help elevate the national conversation on, and document the business case for, deeper learning. BOARD ONLY: This is a recommendation for a tie-off grant. The Program has determined—through careful strategic reflection informed by external evaluation—that the grantee’s level of capacity and alignment to deeper learning is largely restricted to reform in the postsecondary sector (an area we are tying off in favor of a tighter focus on K-12 reform). Therefore, relative to the rest of the portfolio, BHEF does not warrant continued significant investment as we leave a period of exploratory grantmaking and shift to a smaller, better-coordinated core set of grantees funded by larger, longer grants.

The Forum, which convenes Fortune 500 and higher education executives, has made deeper learning the anchor of its college- and career-readiness initiative. It plans to engage its membership to validate deeper learning skills, to define those skills in the context of both sectors, and to promote advocacy for educational reform. Work will include enlisting the support of CEOs, human resource managers, and business philanthropy, as well as producing reports and hosting influential meetings.

The Business Higher Education Forum is the nation’s oldest organization of senior business and higher education executives dedicated to advancing solutions to U.S. education and workforce challenges. It is composed of Fortune 500 CEOs, prominent college and university presidents, and other leaders. BHEF will engage in a planning process with its members to explore deeper learning from the demand side of the college- and career-readiness equation; it will develop a concept paper that outlines a plan to develop a case statement for deeper learning, advance public awareness of the need for associated reforms, and foster a national community of practice among regional business-higher education reform partnerships in Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) disciplines.