WHAT DO RHODE ISLAND and Michigan have in common besides the nation’s highest unemployment rates? We both are moving toward a knowledge-based economy. For two states built on manufacturing, this transition can be achieved only with the full commitment of business and education working closely together. Rhode Island is well poised to successfully execute this significant economic paradigm shift because of our greatest resource: our students.

Consider this: Rhode Island is ranked 14th in the country in the percentage of the population who are college-educated. Each year, nearly 40,000 students attend the eight independent higher-education institutions that make up AICU Rhode Island (the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, formerly known as the Rhode Island Independent Higher Education Association).

When you add the more than 40,000 students attending our public higher-education institutions, Rhode Island has the greatest number of college students per capita in America. These 80,000 students, many of whom come from out of state and abroad, combined with the staff and faculty at their schools, make a substantial contribution to the knowledge-based economy of the state. And they shop in our stores, work and pay taxes, and put in thousands of volunteer hours. Some have even opened their own businesses here.

Our involvement with students does not begin when they start classes. Every institution of higher education has established collaborative relationships with Rhode Island’s public schools, working with students in pre-kindergarten through high school. Last year, the Rhode Island Board of Governors for Higher Education, the Rhode Island Campus Compact and AICU Rhode Island worked together to document these partnerships. All 11 colleges and universities identified the partnerships that had the greatest impact, were the most innovative, and could most easily be replicated.

The results:

Our colleges and universities have established more than 250 partnership activities with PK-12 schools. The 55 partnerships identified as having the greatest impact on students are all in the state’s urban core: 29 in Providence, 14 in Pawtucket, and 12 in Central Falls. Recognizing the need to support the diverse student population in Providence, all of the state’s 11 institutions of higher education have at least one partnership with a Providence school. Most were initiated by colleges or universities, and all such institutions provide financial support to their PK-12 partners, along with space, technological assistance, grant-writing support and fiscal-management services.

We also recognize the value of having our undergraduates directly involved with younger students. They serve as role models, participating in tutoring, mentoring and after-school programs, and teaching and other support in the classrooms.

Every college within Johnson & Wales University has selected an elementary or middle school in Providence for a partnership, including the Mary E. Fogarty Elementary School. Since 2003, more than 100 JWU students have been in experiential learning programs at Fogarty each year. Our students are mentors to the students in kindergarten through fifth grade who often need someone to look up to, socially and academically.

Most of the colleges and universities offer dual enrollment so that high-school students can start earning college credit for courses. About 16 percent of Rhode Island high-school juniors and seniors in 2006 participated in this popular program, including Rhode Island College’s “Pathways Through College” and Bryant University’s Smithfield High School Academy of Finance programs.

Rhode Island’s business community also has formed collaborations with public schools. AICU Rhode Island has begun conversations with the business community to create an inventory of business collaborations with PK-12 schools similar to the one above.

Business and education working together is best illustrated by our membership’s participation in the effort initiated by the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce and the Providence Foundation to create a “Knowledge Economy Roadmap.” Our memberships’ involvement continues as we work to create economic opportunities for our capital city, our state and our students. Our goal is to encourage all universities and colleges to act to promote the state’s economy, so that our students can benefit from a brighter future for the state and indeed be an integral part of it.

A priority for AICU Rhode Island is to increase our participation in workforce development. As a robust part of the workforce pipeline — graduating skilled, knowledge-based workers — we plan to boost our effort here through assessment and collaboration. Similar to our public-school partnerships project, we plan to catalog which workforce activities our members provide, and identify the ones that are having the biggest impact, that are the most innovative and that are most likely to be replicated.

As we move toward a knowledge-based economy, there is a greater need to improve student achievement and provide support from pre-kindergarten through high school to increase the number of college-bound students. We at Rhode Island’s institutions of higher education are doing our part to spur the shift from manufacturing and service-based jobs and create the foundation for a knowledge-base economy. To be successful, we must have a full commitment from all sectors.

Daniel P. Egan is president of the Association of Colleges and Universities of Rhode Island. Irving Schneider is president of the Providence Campus of Johnson & Wales University .