Missouri has been chosen to participate in a national study on higher education.

To fulfill the task, Gov. Bob Holden has named 29 Missourians across the state, from different walks of life, to the new Commission on the Future of Higher Education, which first meets Monday in Jefferson City. The panel’s main focus is to look at the relationship Missouri businesses have with higher education institutions and the role education plays in the state’s economic well being.

Missouri as well as three other states will gather input and the collective data will be used as a nationwide template to improve higher education.

A new report by the non-profit National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education said 39 percent of Missouri’s high school graduates continue their education. This is the lowest percentage in the Midwestern states.

“If we want to be a part of this knowledge-based economy of the 21st century, that has got be reversed,” Holden said in a Capitol news conference March 17. “What we need to look at is how we attract and encourage more young people to enter schools beyond high school, for the training that they need.”

The commission will be funded by a grant from the Pew Charitable Trust.

Sen. Gary Nodler (R-Joplin) is the only person from the Joplin area to be named to the panel.

“The commission’s charge is basically to look at Missouri’s higher education system and plan future private sector involvement,” Nodler said.

Rep. Kathlyn Fares (R-Webster Groves), chair of the House appropriations-education committee, said the panel is important because of the significant role higher education plays in the state’s economic development.

She said her role in the House committee will benefit the panel in that she will be able to bring current concerns related to the state’s higher education funding problems to the table.

Nodler said this commission comes at a good time for the state, in that it will enable the panel to look at other options for higher education budget problems.

“We can customize education programs for businesses,” Nodler said. “The main focus of this panel is to look at the business and higher education partnership.”

The panel will generate ideas and create recommendations for changes in the operation of Missouri’s higher education system.

“Higher education has risen as a continuum of not only education but re-education,” Fares said. “This panel’s membership seems to be broadly based throughout the state, and it is full of experienced people.”

Nodler said he believes the reason he was chosen for the panel was his idea to have a cooperative relationship between institutions of higher education in Missouri.

His idea became Senate Bill 56 (eventually it joined SB 55), which will allow, if passed, universities and colleges across the state to offer joint degrees.

“We will try to encourage the participation of businesses and try to find ways to create partnerships in areas where there is a need,” Nodler said.

Nodler said he plans to look at examples where relationships with businesses in the private sector and higher education institutions have created positive results.