| Senate approves bill aimed at increasing tech graduates 04/02/2001 Associated Press AUSTIN – The Senate on Monday approved a bill backed by Gov. Rick Perry to boost the number of engineering and computer science graduates in Texas.
The bill, which moves to the House, would create the Texas Engineering and Technical Consortium made up of all public engineering and computer science university programs and private companies.
The companies could put up to $5 million a year into a fund for programs targeted for students enrolled in engineering and computer science programs. Texas would match up to $5 million, for a total of $10 million a year.
The money would be doled out to the universities through the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, which would provide grants to public universities to increase enrollment and improve retention rates.
The program also would be open to private schools with accredited electrical engineering program. The private schools would have to match the grants provided to them.
Texas ranks second in the nation, behind California, in high tech employment, with about 411,000 jobs, according to AeA, a trade association formerly called the American Electronics Association.
The bill would help make sure that Texas produces the workforce for those jobs, said bill sponsor Sen. Rodney Ellis, D-Houston.
A similar bill has been filed in the House.
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