A decade ago, the University of Hawai'i saw a need for higher education in West Hawai'i when its Board of Regents reviewed detailed plans and selected a 500-acre state-owned parcel in North Kona for a permanent facility. Although a formal executive order has yet to be executed for the parcel, perhaps the delay has been fortuitous.

While it seemed appropriate to call for an expanded University of Hawai'i Center at West Hawai'i in the 1990s, today the focus of that vision has sharpened to reveal the need for a full-fledged UH-Kona residential university operating in tandem with UH-Hilo.

West Hawai'i, encompassing the districts of North and South Kona along with North and South Kohala, remains the only major region within the State of Hawai'i without a permanent facility for higher education. Explosive regional growth over the past 25 years indicates the pressing need to anchor the community with UH-Kona. Census data from 1980 reveals a regional population of 27,518. By 2005, the population soared by 129 percent to 63,000 permanent residents, plus another substantial untallied layer of part-time residents.

Recent well-intentioned public and private sector efforts, including Hiluhilu, Hawai'i Community College, state Land Use Commission, Hawai'i County and Hawai'i Campus Developers LLC, have all taken strides in recognizing the community need for higher education in Kona.

Respectfully, we suggest repositioning this educational compass to advance the call for the University of Hawai'i in Kona.

The 500-acre North Kona parcel is a jewel. It sits at the apex of a triangle with immense potential. To the north are world-class resorts, to the south are the rich remains of ancient Hawaiian culture, and in between are bustling activities of international aviation, marine sciences, aquaculture and research projects.

Growing residential communities, including a large concentration of Native Hawaiians, crown the area.

If built, UH-Kona would build an educated community, elevate workforce development, attract highly skilled jobs and broaden diversity.

In less than a generation, the region would shift from an under-served population to a highly educated one. High school graduates now shuffled into lower-paying jobs, would be able to advance quickly. Parents who now fret over the future would realize this dream for their children.

The call for UH-Kona also supports the parallel need for a permanent Kona campus and facilities for Hawai'i Community College, with emphasis on vocational training programs.

Factoring in the surrounding environment, the following could serve as initial programs for UH-Kona: travel industry management, aeronautics, engineering, marine sciences, life sciences, aquaculture and archaeology. Certainly more could be added once strategic planning is completed. Of particular note, UH-Kona should complement, never compete with, existing programs now underway at UH-Hilo and HCC.

Furthering the argument for the university is the medical crisis that has been brewing for some time now in the West Hawai'i region. For a variety of reasons, physicians and other medical care providers have departed and new recruits have been reluctant to relocate.

Existing hospital facilities, overcrowded and showing signs of age, were further degraded by last month's earthquake.

The community voice calling for a new hospital situated in North Kona has amped up in volume. This call is appropriate, given that regional population growth has primarily clustered in the North Kona area.

Imagine a university hospital attached to UH-Kona — with a biotechnology cluster component and teaching programs for the healthcare spectrum. What a tremendous asset that could be.

If you join us in this vision of community-building by transforming higher education in West Hawai'i, make it your commitment. We must gather public and private entities to share this vision of UH-Kona. The resources are in place and the first steps would be to encourage Gov. Linda Lingle to execute the set aside for the 500 acres as UH-Kona, and adopt UH-Kona within the strategic plan of the University of Hawai'i system.

To make UH-Kona a reality will require diligence and considerable entrepreneurship. We need to convince UH to embrace a four-year UH-Kona as a complete university. We need the state to transfer land to UH for UH-Kona. We need to attract private capital along with public funding. We need to be focused and work together as a community with one common goal for our children and their future.

UH-Kona, along with its university hospital, has tremendous cache. It is time to act.

Mark McGuffie is the executive director of the Hawaii Island Economic Development Board.