BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Board of Regents previewed a new index designed to measure how effectively Louisiana’s postsecondary education system creates opportunities for graduates, the board announced on Wednesday.

The Louisiana Opportunity Index was announced during Wednesday’s Board meeting on Southern University campus. The index follows the Regents’ announcement that the met their goal of awarding 85,000 postsecondary annual credentials.

The index will examine five dimensions of postsecondary opportunity across the state, including alignment with workforce demand, return on investment, retention of graduates in Louisiana, participation in work-integrated learning and access to quality career guidance.

Deputy Commissioner for Academic Affairs and Innovation Tristan Denley introduced the newly created Louisiana index, highlighting its role in linking educational attainment to workforce alignment, talent retention and career-connected learning.

“Louisiana has proven that it can educate more of its people than ever before. Now we have to make sure those talented graduates see opportunity here at home, and career alignment is how we do that,” Commissioner of Higher Education Kim Hunter Reed said.

Louisiana has announced more than $260 billion in economic investments in all corners of the state, with these future and ongoing capital projects tracking to secure more than 16,000 new direct jobs and tens of thousands of critical indirect positions. To meet the workforce demand, higher education institutions are delivering training to create a direct pipeline to high-wage careers in the state.

“With more than $260B in announced economic investments across Louisiana, the demand for skilled talent has never been greater,” Board Chair Misti S. Cordell said.

During the meeting, Board members also approved the 2027–2028 budget request for public postsecondary education.