How historically Black universities and colleges are drivers of U.S. growth

Aug 10, 2021

many Black university students, like this man studying here, have been known to benefit from being educated by HBCUs

According to a Mckinsey report, HBCUs have substantively improved the economic and educational positions of Black Americans and others in the United States.' Image: Unsplash/Emmanuel Ikwuegbu

Jimmy Sarakatsannis

Senior Partner, McKinsey & Company

Our Impact

The Big Picture

Explore and monitor how Systemic Racism is affecting economies, industries and global issues

A hand holding a looking glass by a lake

Crowdsource Innovation

Get involved with our crowdsourced digital platform to deliver impact at scale

Stay up to date:

Systemic Racism

a chart showing that Black colleges consistently deliver strong outcomes, especially on economic mobility

Black colleges consistently deliver strong outcomes, especially on economic mobility. Image: Mckinsey and Company

a chart showing that the mean mobility rate across all US colleges is 1.6 percent, but the mean mobility rate for HBCUs is 3.0 percent

The mean mobility rate for HBCUs. Image: Mckinsey and Company

a diagram showing where Black universities and colleges are historically located

81% of HBCUs are located in US counties where the median wage is below the national average. Image: Mckinsey and Company

this diagram shows how many HBCUs are situated in areas where Black consumers’ needs are not being met.

The problem of the digital divide. Image: Mckinsey and Company

Discover

What's the World Economic Forum doing about diversity, equity and inclusion?

Don't miss any update on this topic

Create a free account and access your personalized content collection with our latest publications and analyses.

License and Republishing

World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International Public License, and in accordance with our Terms of Use.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.