Purdue University President Mitch Daniels plans to make his pitch to Indiana college students Friday afternoon to try to keep them in the state after graduation.
Daniels is scheduled headline a new event called the Indiana Brain Gain Talent Summit, which will include nearly 250 Indiana college students from 17 colleges and universities.
The goal of the event is to reverse the concept of “brain drain.” According to event organizers, Indiana ranks 16th in the United States for number of college degrees produced, but 40th in the number of residents with a college degree.
A 2014 report from the Indiana Business Research Center found 66 percent of graduates from Indiana public colleges remained and were working in Indiana one year after graduation. Five years after graduation, only 55 percent of graduates were working in the state.
“It’s time we applied science and scale to finding and keeping the best and brightest people born here, as well as those who pass through our great universities,” said former Angie’s List CEO Bill Oesterle in a written statement. “This is just the start of a formal, wider-reaching program.”
The Indy Chamber, the Mitch Daniels Leadership Foundation, the Heritage Group, the Orr Fellowship, the Indiana Talent Repository and TMap are sponsoring the event. TMap is Oesterle’s new company focused on recruiting people to Indiana.
The event is set to start at 3:30 p.m. Friday at The Center, 6320 Intech Blvd., in Indianapolis.