If the first step to achieving positive change is widespread agreement that change is needed, then Minnesota is on its way to making higher education more effective, efficient and productive. But unless consensus about promising next steps follows soon, the wait could be long — too long, we fear, for employers already crying about a shortage of skilled workers.

Two high-level meetings in recent weeks made earnest attempts to achieve consensus. One, dubbed North Star Summit, involved 360 stakeholders and was hosted by state Senate higher education chair Terri Bonoff on Dec. 8. The smaller event on Dec. 17 was the last of three meetings of a "work group" on higher education affordability and completion rates. The Citizens League and the state Office of Higher Education convened the work group; the league was also among eight summit sponsors, which also included the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce.

This much effort at consensus-building is laudable. It shows that the appetite for increasing Minnesota's higher education output is strong. And while a plan of action hasn't yet emerged, the themes that arose from the two events should guide this state's higher education stewards, both on institutional governing boards and at the Legislature, as they contemplate specific steps.

Among those themes:

• Achieving racial and socioeconomic equity in higher education achievement ought to be a leading goal for Minnesota.

• Mechanisms are needed to better align higher education's output with employer demand. German-style apprenticeships or "learn-to-earn" programs, funded in part by employers, are a promising approach.

• The performance of higher education institutions ought to be judged in larger part by their students' success after graduation.

• Mentoring — the buzz word is "intrusive advising" — should be available to more students, beginning during high school.

American higher education systems developed at a time when a postsecondary degree was not an essential ticket to the middle class. It is now. Minnesota's future prosperity will depend on how thoroughly it adjusts to that reality — and how quickly.