NATIONAL

Vol. 19 No. 1 May 2011 Published by The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education John Ma

Austerity Measures tt erson, Black St Students protest as a cash-strapped government lets British universities triple their fees

By Jon Marcus catcalls, and hand-lettered banners made centers, even public ar, for C rossTalk from old sheets. The anteroom is so toilets. Ma n c h e s t e r , En g l a n d crowded with police in neon-colored vests, “Liars!” shout the HE MASSIVE TOWN HALL in it’s hard to make out the mosaic design of protesters. “Cow­ Albert Square is a shrine to this bees on the floor that are the symbol of ards!” “Hypo­­crites!” Tproud onetime manufacturing city’s Manchester industry. Struggling to be “You are ruining past industrial and scientific reach. heard above the protesters, the Manchester lives!” Built in 1877 of 14 million bricks, the City Council is trying to discuss its annual The drastic mea- massive Gothic-style structure commemo- budget, which will cut $175 million in sures come in the rates a legacy of empire that dates back to spending and 2,000 jobs, scaling back chil- second year of an the Romans. A statue of the general dren’s services, highway work and garbage austerity campaign Gnaeus Julius Agricola, who consolidated collection, and shuttering libraries, leisure meant to reduce a re- Roman rule in Britain, looks down from cord UK peacetime atop the entrance. Above him still reign An unlikely governing budget deficit that Henry III and Elizabeth I. Busts of the will hit $235 billion physicist James Joule and the chemist John coalition of the Liberal this year, an amount Dalton, a pioneer in the field of atomic Democratic and equivalent to 11 per- theory, flank the lobby. The panels of the cent of the gross do- vaulted ceiling in the Great Hall represent Conservative parties mestic product. That At the University of Manchester’s Roscoe Hall, student protesters the principal towns and cities all over the has made the deepest will compound a debt from all over the north of England have been rallying in world with which Manchester traded in the of nearly $1.5 trillion. opposition to an increase in university fees. 19th century. Over the face of the clock in cuts in public By 2016, Britain’s the 280-foot tower is the inscription: debt is expected to surpass $2 trillion. cuts in public expenditures since just after “Teach us to number our days.” expenditures since just An unlikely governing coalition of the World War II, slashing about $40 billion a Today, however, the ornate Great Hall after World War II. Liberal Democratic and Conservative par- year from the budget, freezing pay for pub- is a cacophonous stew of shouting, jeering, ties has responded by making the deepest continued on page 15 “Outcome Funding” Tennessee experiments with a performance-based approach to In This Issue college appropriations By Robert A. Jones have imagined. Beginning this year, Tennessee is prom- Tennessee, long at the bottom of the ising to boost the production of college Na s h v i l l e higher education heap, is throwing out the graduates by 3.5 percent annually, yielding hen the Nashville rule books that have governed its state col- a cumulative 210,000 more bachelor’s and songwriter Kris Kristofferson leges and universities. With little to lose, associate’s degrees by 2025. At the same Wfamously penned the words the state leadership is gambling that a time, Tennessee officials say they will re- “freedom’s just another word for nothing sweeping reform, anchored by a new ap- duce college dropouts dramatically, and left to lose,” he was not likely contemplat- proach to funding, will pull the state system ing Tennessee’s higher education system. out of its long trough and lift it, at least, to But the lines are more apt than he might the national average. Tennessee, long at the bottom of the higher education heap, is throwing out the rule ar, for C rossTalk books that have governed its state colleges and universities. Wade Payne, Black St Payne, Wade

achieve those results at a lower per-student cost than today. “ residential Leadership for Public The reform has attracted national at- PPurpose,” a new report based on tention because of its scope, which includes interviews and a Presidential Round­ every level of public institution from com- table discussion with college presidents munity colleges to the University of Tenn­ on the challenges facing higher educa- tion. Jamie Woodson, a Republican state senator, says that “rewarding higher education with essee, and because it incorporates many of larger budgets is not part of the conversation. The conversation is about outcomes.” continued on page 6 Page 2 CROSSTALK NEWS FROM THE CENTER CENTER REPORTS Recently Released National Center Reports Board of Directors Strengthening College Opportunity and Performance James B. Hunt Jr. Ch a i r m a n Federal, State and Institutional Leadership Patrick M. Callan (December 2010) Pr e s i d e n t A policy report from The Delta Project on Postsecondary Education Costs, Productivity, and Accountability, the National Center for Robert H. Atwell Higher Education Management Systems, and the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education. Ramon C. Cortines Virginia B. Edwards James M. Furman Good Policy, Good Practice II Matthew H. Kisber Improving Outcomes and Reducing Costs in Higher Education: Charles E.M. Kolb A Guide for Policymakers Joanne C. Kozberg (November 2010) Arturo Madrid Robert H. McCabe This report revises and updates the 2007 report, Good Policy, Good Practice. It is a resource for policymakers and educators Jack Scott seeking examples of programs and policies to improve college access, completion rates and cost effectiveness. Thomas J. Tierney Deborah Wadsworth Beyond the Rhetoric Harold M. Williams Improving College Readiness Through Coherent State Policy Virginia B. Smith 1923–2010 (June 2010) Fo u n d i n g Di r e c t o r This brief addresses the state policy dimensions of college readiness. It identifies the key issues and problems associated with the Higher Education college readiness gap, which is a major impediment to increasing the numbers of college students who complete certificates or Policy Institute Board degrees. This policy brief also provides governors, legislators and state education leaders with specific steps they need to take to close Arturo Madrid the readiness gap in their state. These findings and recommendations were prepared by the National Center for Public Policy and Ch a i r m a n Higher Education, and the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB). Patrick M. Callan James M. Furman Policy Alert: Open-Access Colleges Responsible for Greatest Gains in Graduation Rates (February 2010) Joni E. Finney Vice President This Policy Alert, which summarizes research at Vanderbilt University, finds that the largest gains in graduation rates over the past Michael Armijo decade have been accomplished at open-access or nearly open-access colleges and universities. In addition, states could see even Research Associate bigger increases if they directed their policies and supports toward improving graduation rates at these nonselective institutions. Holly Earlywine Accounting Manager Squeeze Play 2010: Continued Public Anxiety on Cost, Harsher Judgments on How Colleges Are Run Heather Jack Project Director, National CrossTalk (February 2010) Lori King Are college and universities doing all they can to keep costs under control? According to Squeeze Play 2010, a new report from Administrative Assistant Public Agenda and the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, six out of ten Americans believe that colleges mainly Michael Kirst care about their own bottom lines instead of making sure that students have a good educational experience. Squeeze Play 2010 is Senior Fellow part of a series of surveys, dating back to 1993, tracking public attitudes about college affordability and accessibility. More than half of Laura Perna Americans now say college is essential for success in the work world. Even more, 69 percent, say there are many qualified people Director of Policy Studies who do not have access to higher education, up seven percentage points from two years ago and 22 percentage points compared to a Awilda Rodriguez Research Associate decade ago. Jamey Rorison Research Associate For more information, visit the National Center’s web site at www.highereducation.org. Noreen Savelle Executive Assistant Todd Sallo Editing and Production, National CrossTalk Michael Usdan Forthcoming Senior Fellow William Zumeta June 2011 Senior Fellow American Higher Education:

National CrossTalk is a publication of the National Center for Journalistic and Policy Perspectives Public Policy and Higher Education. The National Center promotes public policies that enhance opportunities for quality education and training beyond high school. The National Center from National CrossTalk is an independent, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that receives core support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Lumina Foundation for Education. he National Center for Public Policy and Higher The primary purpose of National CrossTalk is to stimulate TEducation will release a book this summer that informed discussion and debate of higher education issues. The publication’s articles and opinion pieces are written chronicles the work of National CrossTalk over the past independently of the National Center’s policy positions and those of its board members. decade. This volume includes articles relevant to the

Subscriptions to National CrossTalk are free and can be obtained current issues facing higher education institutions and by writing a letter or sending a fax or e-mail to the San Jose address listed below. state policymakers.

Higher Education Policy Institute The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education This book will be available online at 152 North Third Street, Suite 705, San Jose, CA 95112. Phone: (408) 271-2699; Fax: (408) 271-2697; E-mail address: www.highereducation.org [email protected]; Website: www.highereducation.org. CROSSTALK Page 3 P HO T OS B Y Pe t er Ma Reversal of Fortune Ireland’s “Celtic Tiger” economic miracle is followed by an epic downturn tt he w s, Black St “Th’ whole worl’s in a terrible state o’ chassis.” ernment itself fell. A frustrated public look- —Sean O’Casey, “Juno and the Paycock” Among other things, these events have ing for someone to blame is clearly conspired to create what academics angry at public university

By Jon Marcus like to call a teachable moment. Later on faculty, whom they consider ar, for C rossTalk this same day, in the same building on the lavishly overcompensated. Du b l i n , Ir e l a n d same campus, is scheduled another, unre- Academics, toiling under in- he topic of the Ph.D. seminar lated program, “Education in Crisis,” part creased workloads, are irate in a sunlit classroom at University of a weekly series that has included discus- at their administrators, TCollege Dublin is of more than aca- sions about the labor market in crisis, de- whom they say have mis- demic interest to the doctoral candidates mocracy in crisis, migration in crisis, polic- managed universities and who fill every seat. It’s called “Politics in ing in crisis, healthcare in crisis, even squandered popular sup- Crisis,” and it’s about how Ireland has Catholicism in crisis. port. Admin­istrators bristle managed to find itself in the depths of an “There are crises upon crises upon cri- at what they consider inter- epic downturn so soon after the peak of its ses,” quips James Farrell, a professor of ference from uninformed “Celtic Tiger” economic miracle—a time politics at UCD and head of its School of and unfairly critical govern- of incomparably high growth and low job- Politics and International Relations. ment officials. And govern- less rates, when these same students, most In addition to Farrell, the speakers at ment officials want to hold then undergraduates, had the world at the universities and their their feet. Irish students are faculties more accountable Charts and graphs in PowerPoint for outcomes. chronicle the huge decline in such mea- seeing big percentage “There’s a very, very sures as gross domestic product since then, increases in their profound sense of demoral- and a spike in unemployment to some of ization and quite a signifi- its highest levels since records began to be contributions to their cant sense of anger,” said kept. Some 266,000 jobs have been lost in educations at exactly Mike Jennings, general sec- “We know there’s no money anymore, and there are this nation of 4.5 million, helping drive the retary of the Irish Fede­ few choices,” says Daniel Hayden, a Ph.D. candidate biggest emigration since the 1980s, with the time their families ration of University Teach­ at University College Dublin. “There’s resignation 70,000 people leaving last year and an- ers. “There’s a very strong across the board.” other 50,000 likely to follow them this have seen declines in sense that the public has decided to tar the And the plan for moving forward relies year. Property values in Dublin have their incomes. entire sector with the same brush, and in great part on the universities. That’s a plunged 42 percent. The Irish Stock we’re all regarded as overpaid and pam- major reason Science Foundation Ireland, Exchange hit a 14-year low. Struggling this morning’s seminar include recently re- pered.” or SFI—this country’s version of the U.S. with a $32 billion revenue shortfall, and tired high-level civil servants, and before And yet, despite this, Ireland has made National Science Foundation—was one of pushed by a European Union that grudg- each one shares his candid and depressing some unusual strategic decisions that have the few public agencies to see its budget ingly provided a multibillion-euro bailout, take on how Ireland’s current sad state of kept the situation at its universities from rise, not fall, this year, by $15 million, to the government slashed $8.5 billion from economic affairs came to pass, he checks becoming even more grave. The budget $225 million. In all, Ireland spends $1.1 bil- its annual budget, with plans for another that Chatham House Rules apply, mean- cuts for higher education, though signifi- lion a year on research, two thirds of it $13 billion in cuts in the next three years. ing that he won’t be identified by name cant, are not as deep as those that have conducted at its universities and institutes Public employee salaries were cut, pen- outside the classroom. been suffered elsewhere in the country’s of technology. sions and healthcare threatened. The gov- “I want my pension to arrive next public services, or at many public universi- But there’s a catch. The nation wants week,” the former official ties in the United States. A threatened results. “People know we’re in a deep hole. remarks wryly. “graduate tax” that would have forced stu- “Your reduced pension,” dents to repay most of the cost of their ed- Some 266,000 jobs an academic in the audience ucations, like their counterparts in England shoots back, to laughter. (see related article on page 1), has been ta- have been lost in It’s with this singularly bled. Even a proposed increase in the stu- Irish sense of witty fatalism dent registration fee has ended up far Ireland, a nation of that many in the country smaller than feared. Government spend- 4.5 million, helping seem to be reacting to their ing on university research is up, thanks to reversal of fortune. “There’s a stubborn conviction that new discoveries drive the biggest resignation across the board, will help restore prosperity, and campuses emigration since because we know there’s no have sprouted gleaming, freshly completed money anymore, and there buildings that were begun at the peak of the 1980s. are few choices,” Daniel the Irish boom years—about $490 million Hayden, one of the Ph.D. worth of new construction at UCD alone. We know we have to keep investing in the candidates who have come “We’re just holding our breath because kind of development that will help with to listen, says during a break we know how much worse it could be,” our recovery,” said Sean Dor­gan, chairman in the discussion. one top UCD administrator said. In higher of the Centre for Research on Adaptive But just beneath the sur- education, “Surprisingly, we’ve actually got Nanostructures and Nano­devices, or face are also deep divisions kind of a good situation in Ireland,” com- CRANN, at Trinity College Dublin, which that anticipate those begin- pared to other countries, said Hayden, includes a brand-new advanced micros- ning to be felt in higher edu- who was previously president of the UCD copy laboratory a few blocks from the fa- cation in particular, and so- student union. “It could be so much mous Gothic-style Trinity quadrangle in a ciety in general, almost worse,” agreed Megan O’Riordan, head of former warehouse next to a onetime flour everywhere. Not only are the student union at Dublin City mill. Re­searchers who work on its focused- the causes of the problems University across town, whose mother was ion-beam and electron microscopes in familiar—an inflated real- laid off as an accountant when the roofing sealed clean rooms include representatives estate market, misdeeds by company she worked for went under. “It of 74 countries, from corporations such as “Our work is increasingly necessary to justify on the the banking sector, all but could be better, but it could have been Intel. “They’re very keen for us to have policy level,” says Alan Smeaton, a senior researcher at unmanageable public debt. much worse. People are negative about metrics and deliverables regarding com- CLARITY, an interdisciplinary research center. “We So, increasingly, are the re- how we got here, but they’re positive mercialization,” said Joseph Carroll, the need to make the public aware.” sults. about how we’re going to move forward.” continued next page Page 4 CROSSTALK Pho t os b y Pe er Ma from preceding page change behavior,” said Brian MacCraith, American-born associate director of the the president of Dublin City University, Biomedical Diagnostics Institute at DCU, who acknowledged that this has so far which develops medical diagnostic prod- worked to the advantage of Irish higher ucts (a huge growth industry in Ireland, up education.

12 percent in revenues last year in spite of DCU, which was given university sta- tt he w s, Black St the economic downturn), in collaboration tus only in 1989, is a hotbed of such applied with corporate partners including Analog research, with the entrepreneurial Mac­ Devices, and which just got $27 million Craith—a physicist and internationally from the government. prominent researcher in the field of optical ar, for C rossTalk “That’s one of the main mandates sensing—as its enthusiastic cheerleader. He calls it a university of enterprise, and Ireland’s budget cuts has assembled a board of advisors from among executives of Intel, Cisco, Merck, for higher education, Accen­ture and other multinational corpo- though significant, are rations. “We were really set up to be at that industry-academic intersection,” Mac­ not as deep as those Craith said at a conference table covered that have been with research reports in his office in the converted 19th-century agricultural train- suffered elsewhere in ing school that is the oldest building on the otherwise thoroughly modern campus. the country’s At CLARITY, an interdisciplinary re- public services. search center at DCU that develops all kinds of sensor technologies, academics now,” Carroll said. “Three years ago things are collaborating with the likes of Disney were very different. It was just about the and its ESPN network to develop every- Commercialization is “one of the main mandates now,” says Joseph Carroll, of the science. Now SFI wants us to be self-sus- thing from maps and screens for theme Biomedical Diagnostics Institute at Dublin City University. “Three years ago taining. That will be the code word for the parks and cruise ships to high-definition things were very different. It was just about the science.” next few years—sustainable.” From its in- cameras that can follow athletes and gen- creased budget, SFI has quadrupled the erate reports about their play, or, for Irish their number of inventions and quadrupled faculties by six percent since 2008, and number of grants it makes through its sports leagues, vests that measure breath- their number of startup spinoffs. there is a freeze on hiring. This despite the Technology Innovation Development ing and patches that detect the quantity of “It is remarkable what has been fact that enrollment is up 20 percent from a Award program, meant to encourage com- sodium in sweat. The projects are the sub- achieved in a relatively short period of decade ago, thanks largely to immi­gration. mercially viable research. An otherwise jects of slickly produced posters on the time,” said Dorgan. “We went at it with a It’s another familiar theme, but one that’s widely panned two-year review of Irish walls, just as the Biomedical Diagnostics lot of gusto. The case was made strongly. new in Ireland, which had no real history higher education, called the Hunt Report, Institute has a visitor center for the public. The issue for the last two or three years has of immigration until the Celtic Tiger years, recommended more than doubling spend- CRANN runs a competition called “Thesis been to sustain that level of investment. when immigrants flocked here to fill low- ing on such research, from about 1.4 per- in Three,” in which Ph.D. candidates are Practically everyone in this country has suf- paying service-sector jobs. Their children cent of GDP to three percent. “It’s amaz- challenged to describe their work to gen- fered a drop in real income and living stan- often attend poor urban secondary­ schools ing how financial encouragement can eral audiences in local pubs, using three dards in the past three years, so it’s up to us and don’t speak English as their native slides in three minutes. to keep communicating the value of this. language. Fifteen-year-olds in then-homo­ “Our work is increas- The universities know that they are be- geneous Ireland ranked fifth in literacy as ingly necessary to justify holden to the public for the money that recently as 2000, according to the Or­gani­ on the policy level,” said keeps them going.” zation for Economic Cooper­ation and Alan Smeaton, a profes- The danger, advocates universally con- Development, well above the OECD sor of computing and a cede, is in letting expectations get too high. average. Now, with immigrants comprising senior researcher at “There has been some over-promising, eight percent of the school-age population, CLARITY. “This is and it creates credibility problems for the where we are. We need whole sector,” said MacCraith. “There is Government spending to make the public sometimes an expectation for almost in- aware.” Added Mac­ stant results, and results that come directly on university research Craith: “When times are from the investment in research,” added tight, you have to be very Dorgan, who was previously chief execu- is up, thanks to a clear what you’re about.” tive of the Industrial Development Agency stubborn conviction So far the payoff has Ireland. been promising. Ireland Nor is there consensus about the wis- that new discoveries has built a science infra- dom of this tactic, especially considering will help restore structure from a level that the number of teaching faculty at Irish equivalent to that of Ban­ universities is simultaneously in decline. prosperity. gladesh ten years ago to “There’s no shortage of money to do any- become ranked among thing as long as it’s not the frontline mis- Ireland has plummeted to 17th. the top 20 countries in sion of the university, which is to teach,” When they arrive at Irish universities, the world in research. said Jennings. “Politically the universities these underprepared students put even Thomson Reuters’ Es­ keep trying to justify their existence as if more pressure on a shrinking faculty, said sen­tial Scientific Indi­ they were the R&D department of the Andreas Hess, a senior lecturer in sociol- cators rates it first in im- government. Rather than talking about the ogy at UCD. “We’re all happy to take on munology. It is third in pursuit of knowledge, they have concen- more students. Everybody would be happy molecular genetics, sixth trated an unwise degree on this idea of for a better-educated workforce,” Hess in nanoscience, and R&D that can deliver jobs. And in the cur- said. “But we’re not given the means to eighth in materials sci- rent economic climate, when people want teach them.” ence. Since the beginning to hear that, they’re saying it more and Other resources are also in decline. of a concerted technol- more. There is a frustration that the teach- Disproportionately dependent on the gov- ogy transfer program ing part of what we do has been down- ernment, Irish universities have 85 percent “We were really set up to be at that industry-academic that began around the graded to second place behind the research of their costs covered by public funding, intersection,” says Brian MacCraith, president of Dublin time of the economic part.” compared to 73 percent in OECD coun- City University. “It’s amazing how financial crash, Irish universities The government’s austerity measures tries on average, 65 percent in the UK, and encouragement can change behavior.” have more than doubled have forced universities to cut their 44 percent in the United States. That CROSSTALK Page 5 makes them particularly vulnerable in did in the Times Higher Edu­cation maga- less bleak. More than tough times. (Even in good times, Ireland zine standings, when those were first re- 90,000 people under 25 ties for a distant 16th among developed leased in 2005, was 111th and 221st respec- are unemployed, and countries in spending on higher education tively. But by 2009, Trinity had shot to 43rd more than 59,000 of those relative to per-capita GDP, and 17th in and UCD to 89th, joined in the top 500 by are university graduates. spending per student.) Given this, the only DCU, University College Cork, National More than half of last thing surprising about the budget cuts for University of Ireland Galway, NUI year’s graduates still don’t universities is that they haven’t been worse. Maynooth, and the Uni­versity of Limerick. have jobs. Those who do Funding was slashed by seven percent, from It took only one year for all of this to come are being forced to take $1.7 billion last year to $1.5 billion this year. undone, and for Trinity to fall back out of lower-paid and lower- As in America, some of that shortfall is be- the top 50 with UCD gone from the top skilled work, according to 100. the National Economic To stanch the bleeding, the presidents and Social Council. Ireland has built a of all seven Irish universities, the Hunt Offices all over Dublin ad- science infrastructure Report and the Fine Gael political party all vertise U.S. work visas or support a drastic change in higher-educa- Australia or New Zealand from a level equivalent tion funding under which university bud- travel for students who to that of Bangladesh gets would be bulked up not only by raising are choosing to join the the registration fee even higher, but by ranks of those who plan to ten years ago to making students pay substantially more of emigrate. the cost of their educations retroactively af- Still they keep on com- become ranked among ter graduation, based on their courses of ing. The number of uni- the top 20 countries in study and their incomes—a so-called gradu- versity applications for the ate tax like the one in England. An arts fall is up another 14 per- the world in research. graduate would have to repay $11,200, an cent, driven by the unem- engineering student $22,400, and a newly ployed and by students ing made up on the backs of students in the minted doctor $75,600. But after elections from England, who under form of fees. Irish students pay a “registra- in March, Fine Gael was forced to form a EU law pay the same as tion fee,” first imposed in the 1980s when coalition government with Labour, which Irish students, and for the country chose to make higher educa- opposed even the first step of increasing the whom Irish universities tion tuition free. Originally $700 a year, that student registration fee beyond the current are now a bargain. charge has gradually reached $2,100 and level. In a compromise, the graduate tax Nor does there appear will rise again next year to $2,800. was tabled “for further study,” and Labour to be much public sympa- Even though some 43 percent of stu- agreed to raise the registration fee, though thy for this generation, “We know we have to keep investing in the kind of dents come from families whose low in- not as much as Fine Gael wanted. raised as it was in a time development that will help with our recovery,” says Sean come excuses them from paying it, the ad- There things stand, and that has man- of plenty and disparaged Dorgan, chairman of CRANN, at Trinity College Dublin. ditional revenue from registration fees aged to leave no one happy. in popular caricatures as reduced the cut to universities to 2.5 per- Though they get a better deal than their spoiled and entitled. Today’s students are new provisions specifying workloads and cent. Still, this comes at a time when, ac- counterparts in many other countries, Irish known as the Broke and in College. “These teaching hours. Faculty are being required cording to the Hunt Report, the equivalent students nonetheless are seeing big percent- are tough times for Irish students like to teach for an extra hour per week, on top of a 33 percent increase would be needed age increases in their contributions to their Jamie,” the Sunday magazine of the Irish of their current annual workload of 560 just to handle the rising enrollment. educations at exactly the time their families Independent wrote sarcastically about an hours, and face penalties if they fail to win These woes, and particularly rising stu- have seen declines in their incomes. As part imagined typical student. “The old man is satisfactory ratings under a proposed evalu- dent-faculty ratios, have already taken a of the government’s austerity measures, lying low these days, arguing on the phone ation system based in part on certain learn- rapid and quantifiable toll on the enormous they also face a four percent decrease in the with some lawyer guy about what he meant ing outcomes. Faculty unions are fighting progress made by Irish universities in the maintenance grants about a third of them by personal guarantee…and Jamie lives at these plans, and most have refused to sign last ten years. When the first of what would receive toward their living expenses while home and works in a convenience store to on to the Croke Park agreement (named become the highly regarded Shanghai Jiao in school. “People are just living on less pay for Jägermeister at the weekend.” for the Dublin sports complex where it was Tong international university rankings now,” DCU’s Megan O’Riordan said with a Facing new taxes and fewer services, came out in 2003, only Trinity and UCD shrug. “We’re at the threshold now. Any two-thirds of Irish adults support charging among all Irish institutions were in the top more cuts and we’re really going to feel it.” students more for their educations, a poll “Politically the 500, and those only barely. The best they Students’ short-term futures appear no by the Irish Inde­pendent found. Forty per- universities keep trying cent think universities should be paid for partly by the government and partly by to justify their existence higher student fees, and 25 percent support as if they were the the graduate-tax idea. Fewer than a third think taxpayers should continue to bear R&D department of most of the cost of higher education, as they the government.” do now. Academics are even more unpopular. —Mi k e Je n n i n g s , At a hearing, one member of the Dáil, or Ir i s h Fe d e r a t i o n o f lower house of the Irish parliament, ac- n i v e r s i t y e a c h e r s cused them of working only 15 hours a U T week—the amount of time they spend in lectures. “Most politicians have no clue negotiated), under which other public-sec- what academics are actually doing. That’s tor workers agreed to cooperate on money- the biggest challenge, explaining to them saving reforms in exchange for a promise that we’re not sunbathing on some beach,” from the government to make no further said UCD’s Hess. “There’s a certain sense pay cuts or forced layoffs. “I’m not a service of, so many people have lost their jobs and provider,” Colin Coulter, a lecturer in soci- there are rumors of how much money we ology at NUI Maynooth and an outspoken make.” Added Jennings: “We are working critic of these ideas, fumed about them be- harder than we’ve ever worked, we’ve fore a lunchtime discussion in a steeply taken significant cuts in our salaries, and banked DCU lecture hall packed largely still the image is being allowed to get with fellow academics. “I’m a lecturer. The politicians need to stop micromanaging, says Philip Nolan, incoming president of abroad that we have a luxurious existence.” What the hell is a learning outcome? We NUI Maynooth. “If there was one thing we would ask for it’s that the government The government has proposed a pay- teach social theory. One of the expected would stop worrying about the details of how we do things.” for-performance system for faculty, and continued next page Page 6 CROSSTALK from preceding page a moratorium on promotions. (The Pe t er Ma universities to rebound, without re­ learning outcomes is to be confused.” university says the promotions commending any particular one: capping

Faculty, in turn, direct their anger at ad- were made before the moratorium tt he w s, Black St enrollment and cutting costs; increasing en­ ministrators, whom they consider meddle- took effect.) rollment to generate more income; in­ some and overpaid. It didn’t help when Nor did the university presi- creasing student fees; or enrolling more news broke that UCD gave nearly $1.7 mil- dents’ knack for public relations students who pay higher fees—meaning, in serve them when they made no re- this case, students from outside the EU. (In sponse at all to an appeal from the ar, for C rossTalk fact, the government has set a goal of Disproportionately then-education minister that they increasing the number of international dependent on the take a voluntary pay cut. “What I students at its universities by 50 percent hear constantly among my mem- over the next five years, bringing in nearly government, Irish bers is, if you look back at the nega- another $1.3 billion a year.) universities have 85 tive stories in the Irish media over But he said that, in general, the politi- the last five years over who has cians need to stop micromanaging. percent of their brought universities into disrepute, “If there was one thing we would ask costs covered by it’s the senior people who are pay- for it’s that the government would stop ing themselves very high salaries,” worrying about the details of how we do public funding. said Jennings. things,” Nolan said. “What the government That makes them Administrators do bear some needs to do is set goals for the sector, agree fault, said Philip Nolan, incoming the outcomes, and then get off the pitch.” particularly vulnerable president of NUI Maynooth. “The That’s unlikely in a country so deep in controversy surrounding that pay crisis, and with so much at stake. in tough times. was damaging, there’s no doubt “To misquote Seamus Heaney,” Jen­ about that,” said Nolan, who is nings said, after thinking the situation lion in bonuses to top employees over ten moving on from his job as registrar “The teaching part of what we do has been through for a moment: “Hope and history years as a reward for landing a collective and deputy president at UCD. “At downgraded to second place behind the research aren’t rhyming. In this case they’re clash- $112 million a year in grants and other in- the moment the public sector in part,” says Mike Jennings, general secretary of the ing.” u come. The government says the payments general are natural lightning rods Irish Federation of University Teachers. were illegal, and wants the money back. for public anger. And in a crisis For an OECD conference called Jon Marcus is a writer based in Boston who Trinity College also may be fined for slip- like this, people are going to look for “Doing More with Less,” Nolan coauthored covers higher education in the U.S. for the ping retroactive raises to 27 staff in spite of somebody to blame.” a paper laying out four choices for Irish (UK) Times Higher Education magazine.

long-lasting change and, collectively, the That legislation, the Complete College “Large states like California and New TENNESSEE makeovers have not stemmed the decline Tennessee Act, was passed in 2010 and York, especially if they see themselves hav- from page 1 that has seen the United States fall from spells out specific goals such as increases in ing a proud history, can be very difficult the strategies currently favored by educa- first place to tenth among nations in the graduation rates and the retention of stu- places to get consensus on reform,” said tion foundations and think tanks. As such, percentage of young people earning a col- dents in the first years of college. It then ties Jones. “A place like Tennessee is an easier Tennessee is seen as the laboratory where lege degree. future funding for each institution to the environment to work in because it’s smaller, those strategies will be tested. Education experts are hoping the achievement of those goals. and no one is kidding themselves about the “We are doing these things aggressively. Tennessee plan will turn out differently, and Stan Jones, president of Complete need to get the job done.” It seems a little strange to say it, but they see a couple of reasons for optimism. College America (a national nonprofit or- The high concept behind the Tennessee Tennessee has become the leading edge of First, according to Dewayne Matthews of ganization that advised the state at various plan is disarmingly simple: The state will change in higher education,” said John the Lumina Foundation for Education, the times in the process), sees a second hopeful reward each campus according to its Morgan, chancellor of the Tennessee Board Tennessee approach is comprehensive sign. “The most elegant reform plan will do “outcomes”—the production of degrees, of Regents. “Other states are now looking rather than piecemeal, and derives its au- no good if it’s not supported by high offi- retention of students, and other measur- at us to see what’s going to happen.” thority not from agency directives but from cials in the state,” he said. “In Tennessee Reform, and promises of reform, consti- legislation passed with overwhelming sup- the leadership has consistently provided The Complete College tutes a way of life in higher education, of port from both Demo­crats and Repub­ support, and they have built a consensus course. Many such attempts fail to produce licans. that continues to the present.” Tennessee Act of 2010 Jones noted, for example, that the Tennessee legislation was sponsored by for- spells out specific goals mer Governor Philip Bredeson, a Demo­ for each institution, crat, and now has been endorsed by the new Repub­lican governor, Bill Haslam. then ties future funding Ironically, Tennessee is also seen as fer- ar, for C rossTalk to the achievement of tile ground for an education experiment be- cause of its lamentable past. Today, 31 per- those goals. cent of Tennessee adults ages 25–34 have a college degree, a figure that ranks the state able factors—rather than its enrollment. just below Mississippi. An analysis by Each institution will be given its own set of

Wade Payne, Black St Payne, Wade Complete College America shows that only goals and will be measured according to its 12 percent of Tennessee’s ninth graders will success in meeting those goals. eventually earn a four-year or two-year de- This strategy, known as performance gree. funding, has been used for decades in other The state’s flagship institution, the guises. Typically it was employed as a re- University of Tennessee, is widely seen as a ward, or cherry, on top of an enrollment- ho-hum research university subject to rapid based funding formula. If college adminis- turnover of presidents. At the state’s com- trators achieved certain goals they would munity colleges, two-thirds of the students be favored with a few extra percentage fail to transfer to four-year institutions or to points of funding. graduate. And the state’s parsimony in The Tennessee plan tosses out the en- funding has pushed tuition so high that the rollment formula altogether and puts per- National Center for Public Policy and formance funding on steroids. Henceforth, Higher Education, which publishes National in Tennessee, 100 percent of funding will “We will see some institutions with improved performance who receive fewer dollars CrossTalk, gave Tennessee an F in college be based on outcomes and none on enroll- because others improved even more,” says Joseph DiPietro, president of the affordability in 2008. The situation has only ment. University of Tennessee. “That’s when the in-fighting will start.” worsened since then. It comes as no surprise that this idea CROSSTALK Page 7 Wade Payne, Black St did not come bubbling up from the cam- ease students’ path toward a degree, such more money was to start puses. The architects, rather, were a hand- as uniform core courses and uniform new programs, and some- ful of officials at the Tennessee Higher course numbering in community colleges times we saw a duplication Education Commission (THEC), working and universities. of programs,” said Rhoda. with the legislature and the office of then- In addition, all remedial or develop- “Under the new plan, which

Governor Bredeson. mental education was handed over to com- rewards the production of ar, for C rossTalk “A lot of things came together at once,” munity colleges, whether students are en- graduates, a lot more said Richard Rhoda, executive director of rolled in a community college or a thought will be given to the commission. “We had a governor who university. Cleveland State Community where programs are likely to would ask questions like, ‘Why aren’t stu- College in southeastern Tennessee has be- be high producers.” dents graduating from our colleges?’ At come a national leader in designing com- Not surprisingly, the de- the same time, the state was reforming its puter-assisted developmental courses, and velopment of the mission K–12 system, and the issue became, how it is hoped that the Cleveland successes will statements set off a lively are we going to provide for the larger num- be adopted on a larger scale. round of lobbying by cam- ber of kids successfully graduating from But, in general, Tennessee laid out few pus presidents to make sure high school?” such programs. According to David their institutions were de- Bredeson was a Democrat, and a plan Wright, director of policy at THEC, the fined in the most satisfactory to alter the higher education system typi- planners in Nashville decided they would and rewarding fashion. determine “the what and not the how” of At the University of the reform. Mem­phis, Presi­dent Shir­ley An analysis by “We did not want to pretend that we Raines said she tried, and ul- Complete College had all the answers here in Nashville,” timately failed, to have her Wright said. “It seemed a better idea to let campus described as a re- America shows that each institution handle the issue of how to search institution more or only 12 percent of achieve the goals. And if a particular insti- less equivalent to UT Knox­ tution comes up with a great approach, it’s ville. The difference between Tennessee’s ninth our hope that we can seize on those good what she wanted and what graders will eventually ideas and scale them up across the system.” she got might appear subtle And so Tennessee’s fate in higher edu- to a casual observer, but earn a four-year or cation rests almost exclusively on the suc- Raines said the distinction two-year degree. cess of its incentive funding. And in that looms large because a “Tennessee has become the leading edge of change in area, the state planners have broken new broader research role would higher education,” says John Morgan, chancellor of ground. ultimately bring more dollars the Tennessee Board of Regents. “Other states are cally would set the stage for a political bat- To begin, each campus was assigned a into her university. now looking at us to see what’s going to happen.” tle in the legislature. But that did not hap- mission statement, an otherwise innocuous- “We produce something pen, largely because the proposals looking document that has the effect of like 150 doctorals a year,” she said. “I think in funding. And even after three years, emanating from THEC and its consultants defining—and limiting—that institution’s we compare very favorably to UT Knox­ when the new system is fully operational, emphasized accountability, cost savings, academic pursuits. The University of ville on that score, and we haven’t given up the formulas will limit the annual loss or and the production of educated workers— Tennessee at Knoxville’s mission state­ on this issue. There’s going to be an oppor- gain for an individual campus to approxi- themes beloved to Republicans. ment, for example, heavily emphasizes tunity to tweak these things over the next mately two percent a year, according to Gordon Fee, a retired Lockheed Mar­ research, professional education such as year, and I expect we will take advantage Russ Deaton, director of fiscal affairs at tin executive at the Oak Ridge National nuclear engineering, and, curiously, print­ of that.” THEC. “It is designed to produce incre- Laboratory, said state businessmen were making. The mission statements have another, mental impacts,” he said. “Of course, over ready to support a change in direction be- In effect, the mission statement gives more nervous-making purpose. By defin- time those impacts could compound for an cause they were increasingly frustrated by UT Knoxville a license to pursue and ex- ing each campus, they serve as the basis for institution with consistent low scores.” the lack of skilled and educated workers in pand those programs. And because other that campus’ funding formula, the metric The reality that campuses will be com- the state. institutions’ mission statements will not in- that will be used to judge its performance. peting with each other for available dollars “I would hear stories that managers clude some of UT’s programs, UT The metric, in fact, is the beating heart were going further and further outside the Knoxville will be protected from incursions of the Tennessee system. It employs ten The reality that state to attract people who could fill the into its turf. For the time being, printmak- criteria, ranging from freshman retention jobs they had,” said Fee. “You got the ing appears to be safe at the home of the to research dollars gained. Each year an in- Tennessee’s campuses sense that the state was producing gradu- Vols. stitution will receive a score for each crite- will be competing with ates with the wrong skills or in the wrong But what the mission statement gives, it rion. The higher the total score, the more field, and that we needed to make a also takes away. Nowhere does UT funding that campus will receive. each other for change.” Knoxville’s mission statement mention a But the criteria are weighted differently By early 2010, the Complete College medical school. The campus does not have for each institution according to its mission available dollars has Tennessee Act was passed with hardly a a medical school—the main UT medical statement. Thus the University of Mem­ not been lost on college dissent in the legislature. The first provision school is located in Memphis—and the phis, whose research component is not de- of the act directed THEC to link higher ed- mission statement makes it more certain scribed as loftily as UT Knoxville’s, will be presidents in the state. ucation to “the state’s economic and work- that the situation will remain so. rewarded less vigorously for an increase in force development.” Those limitations were intentional. research activity than will the UT campus. has not been lost on college presidents in College leaders initially were a harder “Under the old funding formula using en- According to Raines, that difference the state. All presidents and other campus sell. Dennis Jones, president of the rollment, the way (for a campus) to get could amount to millions of dollars per officials interviewed for this article ex- National Center for Higher Education year. Raines says she very much supports pressed at least guarded support for the Management Systems and a Tennessee the concept of an outcome-based approach new system, but the uncertainties have lent consultant, said many campus presidents The Tennessee plan to university funding but is wary of what a breathless quality to the experience. saw danger signals in the legislation but will reward each she sees as the devils in the details. “I firmly A two percent swing at the University were eventually persuaded that a major believe that the people (at THEC) are of Memphis, for example, could amount to change was necessary to pull the state out campus according to working in good conscience, and these is- more than $5 million a year. With a metric of its trough. its “outcomes”—the sues will get resolved,” she said. containing ten criteria, and a different “Tennessee is so far below the national The new funding system begins this weight assigned to each criterion, predict- average that small tweaks weren’t going to production of degrees, year but will incorporate what one educa- ing the result in advance at any campus be- work,” said Jones. “And a big selling point retention of students, tion official termed a “soft roll-out.” In ef- comes virtually impossible. was the economic impact of success. If fect, that means the impact of campus per- “I applaud Tennessee for being bold higher education met the new graduation and other measurable formance on funding will grow slowly over with this plan,” said Carl Hite, president of goals, Tennessee’s per capita income could the next three years until it reaches the 100 Cleveland State Community College in rise 20 percent. That’s huge.” factors—rather than percent level. southeastern Tennessee. “No other state The THEC plan that grew out of the its enrollment. Because of the soft roll-out, no campus has come close to going from 100 percent legislation developed several strategies to will experience a sharp uptick or downtick continued next page Page 8 CROSSTALK

from preceding page than its predecessor. “In the past, with en- DENNIS BRACK , BLACK STAR , F OR CROSSTALK seat-count funding to 100 percent outcome rollment funding, the game was to bulk up funding. At this point, though, I don’t think in the fall when students were counted,” he anyone knows how the system will play out said. “The new approach has been pored for their campus.” over by campus presidents and chief aca- To add some clarity—and perhaps to demic officers, and we’ve tried to keep it as get the juices flowing—THEC has posted a straightforward as possible. If soft spots “dynamic model” of the new funding mech- show up with the new system, we can fix anism on its website that allows administra- them.” tors to play with different outcomes. A col- John Morgan, the Board of Regents lege president, for example, can plug in an chancellor, says another wrinkle lies in the improvement in freshmen retention and see system’s subtle but perverse incentive for the extra dollars flowing to the campus. administrators to withhold strategies that Since the dynamic model assumes a zero- prove successful. “If you are a campus pres- sum environment, he can also see equiva- ident and you find the secret of success, you lent dollars being subtracted from other might want to keep it to yourself because campuses. your discovery gives you a competitive ad- Hite said he suspects every campus vantage,” he said. president has spent some time with the dy- The answer might be a device that re- wards collaboration, allowing the originator Ultimately, the fate of of a new strategy to share in the success of “The most elegant reform plan will do no good if it’s not supported by high others who adopt it. officials in the state,” says Stan Jones, president of Complete College America. the funding issue will The largest uncertainty surrounding the “In Tennessee the leadership has consistently provided support.” depend on economic new funding system, however, is not the re- may not accept what the higher education capital. Mark Cate, a senior advisor to sponse on the campuses where, as one ad- community sees as the implicit political Governor Haslam, said the question of recovery in Tennessee ministrator said, “we’ve all drunk the Kool- deal of the new system. In a nutshell, that whether improved performance would be over the next year, Aid.” Rather, it’s the response in Nashville perceived deal says that if higher education rewarded with more funding is “impossible where a new Republican governor and a succeeds in its gamble and operates at to answer today. Appropriations are always which is unpredictable. legislature with 20 newly elected conserva- higher efficiencies, then the state will re- a matter of what’s possible and what’s not. tive Republicans will hold sway over the ward it financially. It amounts to pay-for- Everyone is also curious how the new namic model, spinning out scenarios, and higher education system and its budget. performance, another Republican ideal. (Republican) players in the legislature will he laughs about his own experiences. “If I Haslam, the new governor, took office Education officials argue that this deal affect things going forward.” have a target of 100 in a certain area and I in January and thus far has voiced support is not merely a matter of fairness. Rather, it Jamie Woodson, a Republican state type in a result of 110, I can see how much for the outcome-based program. Haslam is crucial for the new system to survive and senator and a co-author of the Complete we get, and then I can see who’s going to be comes from a wealthy family in Knoxville thrive. College Tennessee legislation, agrees that mad at me because I took their money. that has a long history of involvement with Joseph DiPietro, president of the Uni­ reform in a zero-sum game is “a real chal- When someone wins, someone else loses.” the University of Tennessee, and he made versity of Tennessee, described the problem lenge for the leadership in higher educa- The complexity of the system also raises higher education reform a central part of this way: “If everyone performs well and tion.” the question of whether it could be gamed his gubernatorial campaign. the funding stays flat, we will see some in- “At the end of the day, though, that’s by clever campus officials. For example, if The legislature is more of a wild card. It stitutions with improved performance who their job. It’s not about getting more retention and graduation rates reign su- turned decidedly more conservative after receive fewer dollars because others im- preme in the new system, could some insti- last November’s election, and many of the proved even more. That’s when the in- tutions raise their scores by judiciously re- new members campaigned on a small-gov- fighting will start.” Mission statements ducing the number of risky freshmen they ernment platform. Right now, said DiPietro, “We are all define each campus, admit? Could graduation awards, or other Higher education officials say they have locked arm in arm, and we are convinced criteria results, be shifted from one year to little fear that the legislature would attempt this is going to be a major step forward. and they serve as the the next? to dismantle or seriously tinker with the With flat funding, that attitude could basis for that campus’ Rhoda, the executive director of THEC, program. After all, the system reflects many erode.” concedes that any funding system is vulner- Republican ideas in regard to government. Morgan reiterated that rewarding bet- funding formula, able to manipulation, but he believes the The anxiety, the officials say, stems from ter performance is “the key to the pro- the metric that will new model will prove to be more honest the fear that the legislature and Haslam gram’s success. Without it, you’re going to get cynicism and resentment. College ad- be used to judge ministrators are not going to bust them- selves trying to increase productivity if they its performance. believe they will be punished for it. Nobody wants that.” money,” Woodson said. “What I’d want ev- Hite, the president of Cleveland Com­ ery institutional leader to do in the morning munity College, noted that the old route of when they get in the shower is think what increasing budgets by increasing enroll- they can do to align their institution with ments has been taken away, and college the needs of the state, which means making , F OR CROSSTALK , BLACK STAR AYNE presidents now need the assurance of an- Tennessee a more competitive place for

ADE P other route toward expansion other than growth and jobs.” W snatching funds from their brother institu- Right now, Woodson added, “reward- tions. ing higher education with larger budgets is “The legislature told us that the new not part of the conversation. The conversa- standard would be the outcomes at our in- tion is about outcomes.” stitutions. OK, that’s fine, but if we measure Ultimately, the fate of the funding issue up to the new standard, don’t come back will depend on economic recovery in and say we have to cut you more,” Hite Tennessee over the next year, which is un- said. predictable. As of yet, a resurgence in the The crucial year, the educators say, will economy and tax revenues has not oc- be 2012, when the financial results of the curred in any dramatic fashion. Several outcome funding are first felt on the cam- weeks after Woodson made her comments, puses. If the state provides enough money Haslam unveiled his budget for the upcom- so that every campus with improved per- ing year. It proposed a two percent cut in formance sees an uptick in funding, the higher education. u Richard Rhoda, executive director of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission, new system may be over the hump. believes the new funding system will prove to be more honest than its predecessor. But the idea of an implicit deal is Robert A. Jones is a former reporter and “We’ve tried to keep it as straightforward as possible,” he says. greeted with some skepticism in the state columnist for the Los Angeles Times. CROSSTALK Page 9 P HO T OS B Y O M ROS ER , Black St Interdisciplinary Curriculum Newly established University of Minnesota Rochester has a radically different approach to higher education By Kathy Witkowsky future”: one that, as he puts it, “prepares to broaden into other ar, for C rossTalk Ro c h e s t e r , Mi n n e s o t a students for jobs that don’t yet exist, to areas as juniors and se- t’s not unusual to see student solve problems that aren’t yet known, us- niors, rather than the artwork displayed in the halls of uni- ing technologies that have not yet been in- other way around. That Iversities. But student science projects? vented.” Indeed, he says, the world is gives the school the abil- To highlight his institution’s unusual inter- changing so quickly that much of what ity to ensure that all its disciplinary approach to health sciences, freshmen learn will be outdated by the students have the aca- that’s what Stephen Lehmkuhle, chancel- time they are juniors. So rather than stuff- demic background and lor of the newly established University of ing students full of knowledge, universities skills they need before Minnesota Rochester, chose to hang in the should increase their capacity, as well as they focus on their so- reception area next to his office. The infor- their desire, to learn. called “capstone” expe- mational posters explore specific health is- That’s not a new goal for educators. rience that will mark sues, their causes and their possible solu- But because he was hired to start UMR their final two years: up tions. Designed last year by students from scratch, Lehmkuhle (pronounced to 30 credit hours of re- enrolled in UMR’s first-ever freshman “lem-cool”) has been able to go about search, internships, class, the two framed examples—one on achieving it in a very intentional way. study abroad or other “What attracted me here was the opportu- type of exploration in nity to create the change rather than man- their chosen field. With a current age the change,” said Lehmkuhle, who left It also means that enrollment of 140 the University of Missouri to take the job UMR can coordinate its as UMR chancellor. curriculum so that students and just 20 What Lehmkuhle and his vice chancel- concepts are picked up faculty members, lor, Claudia Neuhauser, have created is an and reinforced through­ undergraduate curriculum focused exclu- out a student’s educa­ sively on the health sciences, with a strong tion, combating what UMR is able to be far Stephen Lehmkuhle, chancellor of the University of liberal arts component. More crucially, it is Lehmkuhle calls the Minnesota Rochester, has set out to create a “university of more flexible and also based around, and tracks, a set of stu- “Las Vegas” approach the future” that “prepares students for jobs that don’t yet dent learning outcomes and objectives, to learning that domi­ innovative than larger exist, to solve problems that aren’t yet known.” rather than faculty interests; it employs nates at traditional institutions. state-of-the-art technology and best-teach- institutions, where “what goes on in the how much a pack of cigarettes would have ing practices to account for different learn- classroom, stays in the classroom.” Too to cost to cut the number of smokers in malaria, the other on melanoma—resulted ing styles; and it rewards tenure-track fac- often, he says, students study disparate half; chemistry students have made glu- from a joint assignment in biology, organic ulty for effective teaching as well as ideas and concepts—and subsequently cose, then studied its effects in biology; stu- chemistry and writing, all required courses. research—research in both their areas of forget them—because it’s not clear how dents in bioethics have examined issues As they often do at UMR, students expertise and on their students’ learning. those concepts connect to other disciplines surrounding animal testing, specifically worked on the project in small groups, With just one undergraduate pro- or are otherwise relevant to their lives. how big the animals’ cages should be and which provides an interactive learning ex- gram—a bachelor of science in health sci- Professors design courses they want to yet still be efficient, then designed and perience and teaches them how to function ences (in the fall, it will add a second un- teach, and academic departments are built cages in their statistics class. as part of a team. Then they had to present dergraduate degree, a bachelor of science financially re­warded based on course “What we want to get them to do is un- their findings to faculty—because public in health professions)—UMR also turns enrollments rather than student progress. derstand that what they’re learning has speaking is another key life skill. the traditional approach to higher educa- UMR has taken a radically different practical applications in the world they’re “It really epitomizes what we’re trying tion on its head by mandating a rigorous, approach. “We want to make sure we actu- going to be in,” said assistant professor to do,” said Lehmkuhle, who has set out to tightly prescribed curriculum for its stu- ally build a curriculum, and not just indi- create what he calls “the university of the dents’ first two years, then allowing them vidual courses,” said Neuhauser. “A new Students at the campus is such an opportunity to do things that are hard to do at an established uni- University of versity.” Its small size is also a distinct ad- Minnesota Rochester vantage: With a current enrollment of 140 students and just 20 faculty members, often work on projects UMR is able to be far more flexible and in small groups, which innovative than larger institutions. A mathematician by training, Neuhau­ teaches them how ser began focusing on interdisciplinary in- to function as part struction after she had her own “Las Vegas”–style experience in education in of a team. the mid-1990s, when she was teaching cal- culus at the University of Minnesota’s Twin Rebecca Bamford, who teaches bioethics. Cities campus. The students didn’t seem to Bamford came to UMR from Hunter appreciate why they should bother with College, where, she said, she rarely had an the subject. “I knew it was important, but opportunity to interact with faculty in dif- it wasn’t reflected in the course I was teach- ferent disciplines; her only conversation ing,” said Neuhauser. Recognizing that with a chemistry professor, for instance, students learn better when they learn in was on a bus on the way to a graduation context, she went on to write a calculus ceremony. At UMR, by contrast, the pro- textbook specifically designed for biology fessor who teaches chemistry is just down majors. the hall, and Bamford has attended his At UMR, interdisciplinary assignments classes to figure out ways they can collabo- ensure that concepts don’t get lost in one rate. Faculty often sit in on each other’s “Obviously, building a totally new program is a challenge,” says Claudia course, but are picked up repeatedly. For classes; in some ways, Bamford said, it Neuhauser, vice chancellor of the University of Minnesota Rochester. “We want to instance, freshmen enrolled in both sociol- feels like “we’re actually taking the courses make sure we actually build a curriculum, and not just individual courses.” ogy and statistics have tried to figure out continued next page Page10 CROSSTALK

cade. The school’s innovative, collabora- have its own campus on the edge of down- tive model is exactly what Rochester town, but it will be limited in scope; the needed, according to Wade. “It’s absolutely school is likely to retain its current space essential to the growth and development above the mall as well. “Bigger is not nec- of this community,” he said. essarily better. So I don’t want to measure ar, for C rossTalk But the modest setting wasn’t necessar- our success on how big we are, but rather ily what folks in the Rochester community on how good we are,” Lehmkuhle said. had in mind as they lobbied for years to That’s fine with sophomore Hannah get the University of Minnesota to locate a Salk, of St. Cloud. “I don’t feel like I’m branch campus there. “People think of missing out at all on the things a large universities in terms of infrastructure and school has,” said Salk, the great grand- sports. They wanted a lot of students. They daughter of Jonas Salk, who developed the wanted to be big. They wanted a football polio vaccine. On the contrary, she prefers

P HO T OS B Y O M ROS ER , Black St stadium,” said Lehmkuhle. the small environs of UMR. “I like that But Lehmkuhle believed that eco- professors know my name and where I’m nomic realities required him to develop a from, and that they can gear their classes niche-based, tuition-driven school. So what to the students,” she said. the community got instead when UMR With their encouragement, she has also welcomed its first 57 undergraduates in starting to explore and value her own 2009 was a lean, highly focused academic learning style. After struggling to under­ institution, a place where the library, called stand and remember biological processes— the “information commons,” consists of a such as aerobic and anaerobic respiration, couple of shelves of reference Mary McCoy, a sophomore at the University of Minnesota Rochester (posing next books, a dozen computers to a poster about malaria that she helped to research and design), appreciates the and an interlibrary loan pro- campus’ highly structured curriculum and interdisciplinary approach. gram; a university that has a mascot—the raptor—but no from preceding page his interest in learning goes back to his sports teams; and where the ourselves.” days as a graduate student. Specifically, he local YMCA functions as the Interdepartmental rivalries are non-ex- studied how the brain processes visual in- student gym. istent because there are no academic de- formation. Isolated brain cells, he notes, None of which seems to partments. Instead, UMR has divided the are ineffective at encoding information; bother the students much. traditional duties of a professor into sepa- the brain’s tremendous abilities derive Sophomore Evan Doyle, rate jobs. There are tenure-track “design- from interconnectivity among many cells. who’s from Canton, South based” faculty, who are responsible for de- Lehmkuhle believes that is an appropriate Dakota, and is president of signing the curriculum they teach, as well metaphor for an effective university as UMR’s newly created student as continuing research in their field of ex- well. government—the Rochester pertise; and “student-based” faculty, in- So at UMR, connections are the name Student Association—said structors who help implement the curricu- of the game. Connections between faculty, that what the school lacks in lum and are available outside of class to who coordinate teaching modules and as- traditional extracurricular ac- answer any questions the students have. signments; connections between faculty tivities it more than makes up Classes are team-taught between them. and students, who are continually called for in the opportunity to help The school also has hired student “success upon to provide feedback about teaching build UMR from the ground methods (the faculty through research, the up, to create new student students through evaluations); and connec- clubs and activities, and to Interdepartmental tions between the school and the contribute feedback for the rivalries are non- Rochester community, especially with its development of the curricu- renowned Mayo Clinic, which provides lum. In fact, Doyle joked, existent because there guest speakers and other opportunities for “The hardest part about go- “Students want to impact the success of the program students (such as job shadowing and ob- ing here is convincing your are no academic as much as the faculty do,” says sophomore Evan serving surgeries) as they explore careers friends that it’s a school—be- Doyle, who is president of UMR’s newly created departments. Instead, in the health sciences. cause it’s above a mall.” student government. UMR has divided the Those connections are reinforced by There are no plans for a the school’s location and layout: It occupies football team or stadium, but UMR is in- calcium absorption and DNA rep­lication— traditional duties of the third and fourth floors of University volved in a private-public partnership that Salk, an enthusiastic artist in high school, a professor into Square, a high-end mall that connects with will provide student housing and addi- took to sketching them on paper bags. much of downtown Rochester, including tional classroom and office space in a When her professor, Robert Dunbar, saw separate jobs. the Mayo Clinic, through a series of sky- downtown building next year. The new the drawings, he suggested she use them walks and underground passageways. building will be a complete living-learning for an independent study project. Now she coaches” who function as academic and Classrooms, known in UMR parlance as environment, and will accommodate en- is working with him and a professor of career-path advisers throughout the stu- “learning labs,” are designed so students rollment growth: UMR plans to increase literature to turn those drawings into an dents’ time at UMR. face each other to optimize interaction and its freshman class by 50 students each year, instructional book for kids. That’s some­ Because it’s so new, there are few data small-group work. All students are issued Lehmkuhle said, until total enrollment hits thing that probably would not have by which to judge UMR, which will not Lenovo ThinkPad laptop computers that 1,000, not including another 400 to 500 stu- happened at another university, she said. graduate its first class until 2013. But stu- they lease from the school, so they can net- dents enrolled in joint programs UMR op- “Anywhere else, they don’t care how you dents said that they like its highly struc- work with each other and broadcast onto erates in conjunction with other institu- learn as long as you learn. Whereas here, tured curriculum and interdisciplinary ap- central classroom monitors. Private study tions. they focus a lot on different styles of proach. “It makes me more interested rooms, administrative offices and a num- Long-range, the school does intend to learning,” she said. because then I can see [a subject] from all ber of the classrooms surround a student But that was a secondary reason for perspectives,” said Mary McCoy, a sopho- commons area that contains a cluster of Student “success enrolling. A former patient at Mayo, Salk more who helped research and design the comfortable chairs and sofas and tables decided to attend UMR in large part be- poster about malaria that hangs outside where students—and often faculty as coaches” function as cause of its ties to the medical clinic—a Chancellor Lehmkuhle’s office. well—hang out when they are not in class. connection that she said has paid off. On Lehmkuhle was hired to take the helm UMR has quickly earned the respect academic and three different days during March, for in- of UMR in 2007, after many years at the and support of the Rochester business career-path advisers stance, she and her classmates from anat- University of Missouri, where he served in community, said John Wade, president of omy and physiology descended the escala- several senior administrative positions, in- the Rochester Area Chamber of Com­ throughout the tor and walked through a passageway to cluding vice president for academic affairs. merce, which is hoping to see 8,000 to students’ time at UMR. Mayo Clinic lab where, supervised by their With a Ph.D. in experimental psychology, 10,000 new jobs created over the next de- UMR professor as well as two professors CROSSTALK Page 11 from Mayo’s department of anatomy, they expect in the lab. Also like his col- were able to dissect and examine human When Salk returned to school as a leagues, Dunbar acknowl- cadavers. sophomore this past fall, a UMR literature edged that the interdisci- “It was a huge learning experience. professor with expertise in historical medi- plinary approach is a lot And not just in an anatomical sense—in a cal texts visited her anatomy and physiol- of work. “It can be a tactile way,” Salk said afterward. She was ogy class, where she tried to get them to pain,” he said. “It can be struck by how spongy the heart is, and by think about the human body as a learning much more labor inten- the size of the aortic valve and esophagus. tool without completely objectifying it. As sive than doing it on your And she was excited to feel how tight ten- part of that discussion, students partnered own.” Just as the students dons really are, and to learn where the up and identified superficial anatomical sometimes struggle with nerves innervate the muscles. structures such as muscles and tendons on working in groups, so, too, It was an unusual opportunity for un- each other’s bodies—in the process, learn- do the professors, he said. derclassmen, and Salk was thrilled. She had ing how to be personally and culturally sen- In fact, it has been originally wanted to be a dentist, but now, sitive. And just prior to the three cadaver more challenging than an- after being exposed to other options at labs this spring semester, the director of an- ticipated to coordinate the UMR, she plans to become a doctor. atomical services at Mayo came to Salk’s curriculum, said Vice “Studying from a book gets old,” she said. class and gave a presentation explaining Chancellor Neuhauser. how the cadavers are procured (most die Initially the plan was to Classrooms, known in from natural causes, and all have chosen to have all students take the donate their bodies) and about appropriate same courses for the first UMR parlance as behavior in the lab. two years, and for learn- “learning labs,” are “I had all the tools that I needed,” Salk ing modules or units to be said. “So I knew what to expect.” taught across all the designed so students True to UMR form, her professor, classes students were tak- Robert Dunbar, administered a survey of ing. That has proven to be face each other to the students before and after the labs. What unwieldy, because some optimize interaction he discovered was encouraging, he said: students—transfers, for After the lab, more students said they instance—might not need “I don’t feel like I’m missing out at all on the things a and small-group work. would be willing to donate their bodies to some of the required large school has,” says Hannah Salk, a sophomore who science. “They really saw the value in the courses. And it is too dif- decided to attend UMR in large part because of its ties “Going to a lab like this just reignites the experience,” Dunbar said. ficult for faculty to coordi- to the Mayo Clinic. passion.” She said that she felt completely Like his UMR colleagues, Dunbar, an nate subjects across the entire curriculum. versity,” said student government president prepared on both an emotional and intel- associate professor who earned a Ph.D. in Classes are still designed and taught in Doyle, who plans to become a doctor. “I lectual level, thanks to numerous discus- neuroscience, was hired because he has a modules, and faculty still endeavor to know feel if I don’t succeed, then this university sions she’d had in different classes. passion for teaching as well as research. So and reiterate what their colleagues are won’t succeed.” So while the constant “Pretty much since the get-go, we’ve he often checks in with his students to get teaching. And they continue to design in- course evaluations students are asked to fill been talking about using cadavers,” Salk their reactions. Based on student feedback, terdisciplinary assignments—just not in ev- out can sometimes be “annoying,” Doyle said. During the first semester of her fresh- he adjusts exam dates, assignment due ery course that students are taking. and his peers take them seriously. “Students man year, her humanities class discussed dates—even assignments themselves. Now “Obviously, building a totally new program want to impact the success of the program different cultural attitudes toward death. Dunbar, who has an interest in learning and is a challenge,” Neuhauser said. “But over- as much as the faculty do,” he said. In her second semester, her ethics class ad- memory, is studying the dynamics of group all I think it’s working quite well.” dressed questions associated with the use learning, by having his students take exams At this point, Neuhauser’s conclusion is UMR is capturing all of cadavers, while her biology class had the twice: once as individuals, and once in small based on anecdotal evidence and retention option of attending a lab where Mayo groups. He has discovered that the group rates. Only 43 of 57 students who enrolled of its students’ Clinic faculty, staff and medical students scores are consistently 15 to 20 percent at UMR in the fall of 2009 returned the pointed out anatomical features in cadav- higher, and he is trying to figure out why. next fall; the sophomore class is now down assignments, which are ers that had already been dissected. (Salk As for the interdisciplinary nature of to 35. But this year, 98 of 102 freshmen who preserved was fascinated, but the experience UMR’s program, “it’s just incredible,” started in the fall returned to campus for prompted some of her classmates to real- Dunbar said. “The depth of my under- the spring semester, where they were joined electronically, ize they needed to rethink their career standing of a topic is improved tremen- by seven new students, for a net gain of in essence saving a goals—an equally useful result.) Prior to dously by engaging with people outside my three students. Chancellor Lehmkuhle said that lab, the students had a presentation by discipline. And that manifests itself in the he believes that the retention rates have portfolio of work that Mayo Clinic faculty and staff on what to classroom.” improved, in part, because UMR is getting the entire faculty better at identifying and recruiting students whose interests and academic abilities are can analyze. suited to the program. Soon, UMR hopes to have more so- “What really attracted me to this job phisticated means to assist its students. was that they were trying so many unique Typically, an institution records only stu- and creative things with teaching,” said dent grades. UMR is capturing not only Molly Dingel, an associate professor who grades but all of its students’ assignments, teaches sociology. Not everything has been which are preserved electronically, in es- successful, she said. But, she added, “When sence saving a portfolio of work that the you’re trying new things, not everything is entire faculty can analyze, the same way going to be successful.” doctors look over a patient’s entire medical Chancellor Lehmkuhle agrees. “We’re record to diagnose them and prescribe a building and flying the plane at the same course of treatment. “Over time, we will time,” he said. He does hope that as higher begin to mine that data to look for relation- education is redesigned, as he believes it ships between how students perform in dif- will have to be, UMR will be able to serve ferent concepts in different courses,” said as a model for other institutions looking to Lehmkuhle. That, in turn, will enable deliver education tailored to the needs of UMR’s administration and faculty to adapt the modern world. But to be effective, its teaching techniques to be more respon- higher education must continue to adapt. sive to the needs of individual students, he So ideally, UMR will be a constant work in explained. progress. Said Lehmkuhle: “Once we think Both students and faculty appear we have it figured out, we’re doomed.” u The student commons area at the University of Minnesota Rochester includes acutely aware that they are involved in comfortable chairs and sofas and tables where students—and often faculty as what could be an important experiment. “I Kathy Witkowsky is a freelance reporter in well—hang out when they are not in class. feel a little bit of responsibility to this uni- Missoula, Montana. Page 12 CROSSTALK

ary education. Together, these provided the basis for West Virginia’s public agenda and served to frame the conversation about the role of institutions across the system in address- ing statewide goals. The public agenda in West Virginia is predicated on the recognition that the democratic and economic viability of the state rests on educating more underrepresented (e.g., first- generation, low-income, rural) students. West Virginia is among those states with the lowest Ot h e r Vo i c e s levels of postsecondary educational attainment and the highest number of underrepre- sented students. U.S. Census data demonstrate that West Virginia has the lowest percent- age of adults with a bachelor’s degree in the country, ranks 48th with respect to the percent- age of people ages 25–34 with an associate’s degree or higher, and has the sixth highest percentage of citizens living below the poverty line. A recent study by labor economist Anthony Carnevale estimates that the state will need to produce at least 20,000 more resi- dents with postsecondary credentials by 2018. To reach the more aggressive goal set by Lumina Foundation for Education, 60 percent degree attainment across the United States, West Virginia would need to increase the number of adults with postsecondary credentials by approximately 400,000. Consequently, one of the initial steps undertaken to ensure that higher education is ac- cessible to all West Virginians was to develop partnerships with legislative and executive leaders to reframe and restructure the state’s complement of financial aid programs. West Virginia has historically demonstrated a strong commitment to financial aid; the state ranks fifth nationally according to a recent NASGAAP survey of grant aid per full-time equiva- lent student. While the state has a rich complement of need- and merit-based aid programs, The West Virginia it faced mounting cost and demand pressures at the onset of the master planning process that placed the sustainability of the largest aid programs in jeopardy. Given the integral role of West Virginia is Experience financial aid as a support structure for the public Creating a sustainable public agenda for agenda, higher education leaders worked vigor- among those states ously with elected officials to restructure these with the lowest levels higher education programs and protect and promote the goals of student access and affordability. Faced with esca- By Brian Noland of postsecondary lating cost pressures in the merit-based financial he diverse institutions that comprise the American system of higher ed- aid program—the PROMISE scholarship— educational ucation are currently operating in an extremely volatile policy environment marked higher education led a series of reform efforts that attainment and the Tby shrinking state support for operations, rising tuition costs, fluctuating commit- restructured the program, yielding both additional ments to financial aid, and constant institutional efforts to garner essential resources while funding and programmatic stability, thereby ne- highest number of concurrently reducing operating costs. While these pressures are unrelenting, the demands gating the annual need to raise academic eligibility underrepresented on higher education to serve the multiple missions of teaching, research and service have standards to maintain budget solvency. amplified as states increasingly turn to universities to serve as drivers of innovation and By forging a partnership with legislative lead- students. economic development. These pressures are inflated by the growing state and federal focus ership, higher education was able to build support on productivity, college completion, and heightened calls for accountability. for the programmatic goals of PROMISE, as well as the need for increased funding to sup- As institutions struggle to adapt and respond to these uncertainties, policy leaders have port the public agenda. As a result, over the course of five consecutive legislative sessions urged states to establish a public agenda for significant annual improvements have been made to the state’s financial aid programs, with higher education that is focused on developing more than $20 million in new revenues appropriated to support student access and afford- In 2006 the West clear and consistent policy mechanisms whereby ability. Furthermore, during the 2011 legislative session, additional need-based aid funding Virginia Higher institutions work strategically to meet statewide, was provided to offset potential declines in the federal Pell grant program. rather than institutional, goals. At the core of Once these structural changes were made to the aid programs, the next step in the im- Education Policy this call to action is the need for institutions to plementation of the access goals of the public agenda was the simplification of the college Commission began a work in a coordinated manner to meet the na- application process. In order to ensure that students and families were aware of financial tion’s growing demands for higher education. aid opportunities, the state launched and intensively marketed a one-stop web-portal that planning process that Concerns over this need have been amplified provided information on planning, applying and paying for college. Modeled after a similar resulted in the creation by the declining position of the United States as effort in North Carolina, the College Foundation of West Virginia (CFWV) was launched a world leader in human capital production. in October 2009. Funded through a seed grant from the legislature, CFWV enables middle of “Charting the Consequently, critics argue that higher educa- school students, high school students and adults to explore college and career options, ap- Future: A Master Plan tion must re-evaluate and modify its mission so ply to college, and find financial aid. that it meets the educational, economic and In addition to the traditional students who enroll in college after high school, policy at- for West Virginia workforce demands of the nation. Unless insti- tention was also given to the 173,000 adults in the state with some college but no degree. In tutions are accountable to these changing de- conjunction with institutional leaders and Shepherd University President Suzanne Shipley, Higher Education.” mands, many fear that they will lose legitimacy chair of the system’s Council of Presidents, the RBA Today initiative was launched. and relevance in the face of an evolving educa- Through direct marketing of the program to adults who had completed 60 or more hours tional marketplace in which the for-profit sector is actively creating and expanding market of credit but did not complete their degree, RBA Today (which enhances the state’s exist- opportunities. ing Regents Bachelor of Arts program) has provided a flexible and accelerated degree al- While there is an understanding and appreciation of the need for states to forge a public ternative that supports the broad public agenda goal of diversifying the state’s workforce. agenda for postsecondary education, there has been scant attention paid to how states actu- In addition to the items noted above, the system has been active in its pursuit of federal ally develop, implement and sustain an environment that engages institutions in finding so- and external grant opportunities. Rather than piecemeal federal programs such as GEAR lutions to these broad public policy challenges. The remainder of this essay will focus on ac- UP and the College Access Challenge Grant, the state worked to coordinate activities un- tions taken by policymakers in West Virginia to establish a public agenda. While the policy der a unified planning structure via the West Virginia Higher Education Policy experience is unique to the state, it contains a variety of elements common across state sys- Commission’s Division of Student Success and P–20 initiatives. In concert with institution tems of higher education. staff, the commission has deepened its outreach efforts to underserved communities and strengthened its policy relationships with our P–20 partners. Creating a Public Agenda—The West Virginia Experience The second area of emphasis within the state’s public agenda focused on cost and af- In 2006 the state’s coordinating body, the West Virginia Higher Education Policy fordability. Like many states, West Virginia has struggled to protect affordability in an era Commission, began a strategic planning process that resulted in the creation of “Charting of fluid state support. Over the past two decades, the landscape of funding for higher edu- the Future: A Master Plan for West Virginia Higher Education.” Built upon civic, corpo- cation has been characterized by rising costs, shrinking public appropriations, and an in- rate and community partnerships, “Charting the Future” outlined the state’s public agenda creased hostility to the tuition increases that inevitably follow. With a systemic budget mal- for higher education and focused on addressing critical policy challenges facing West aise that often prevented policymakers from looking beyond short-term solutions to long- Virginia, such as: leaks in the education pipeline, the loss of knowledge workers, blurring term problems, policymakers yearned for more effective education and fiscal policy. This institutional missions, increased student debt, and changing job market demands. tension was ultimately mitigated with the passage of Senate Bill 595 in 2008, which called Concurrently, the state synchronized master planning with the creation of an incentive- for higher education to develop and implement the finance and accountability goals inher- based funding formula and the development of new accountability metrics for postsecond- ent within “Charting the Future.” This legislation cemented the partnership between the CROSSTALK Page 13 legislature and higher education, as both entities worked in concert to develop policies that islation was passed in 2009 which required the professional development of board members contained incentives linked to the goals of the public agenda such as college completion, as a condition of service, provided an impetus for partnerships across institutions, and degree production, and increasing the enrollment rates of adult students. brought the influential voices of the boards into the policy discourse. Through the annual As a result of these efforts, higher education was better positioned to provide the legis- Board of Governors summit, system leaders in conjunction with the staff of the Association lature with a series of data-driven benchmarks to of Governing Boards brought attention to critical elements of the public agenda, such as assess performance, as well as to articulate the U.S. Census data completion and cost efficiencies, as well as a deeper sense of board responsibilities beyond need for sustained investments to promote the the confines of the individual institutions. The importance of boards as active partners in competitive health of the system. The creation of demonstrate that this policy journey cannot be overstated. a unified finance policy clarified the inherent link Despite the challenges facing West Virginia, a higher education policy strategy focused between state support and student-generated rev- West Virginia has on critical areas of need and cooperation with other agencies has helped improve the out- enues, and demonstrated that, absent state appro- the lowest percentage look for the future of the state. The state has been fortunate to have economic stability in a priations, fee increases may be needed to protect time of severe national fiscal constraint, but the challenges other states are facing has the core components of the public agenda. Such of adults with a brought a keen awareness on the part of higher education leaders and state policymakers to increases were avoided in the short term as the bachelor’s degree in be proactive about setting policy and program strategies. In the end, the success of the public system was able to successfully negotiate with the agenda in West Virginia can be traced to the fact that the state developed a plan, worked the governor and legislative leaders a multi-year com- the country. plan, and strategically aligned policy and legislative initiatives to implement the plan. From mitment to hold higher education harmless from small actions such as adjusting the agenda of board meetings to align with the goals of the budget reductions, in return for concurrently freezing tuition and fees for the 2010-11 aca- plan, to linking staff performance reviews so that individual performance connected to plan- demic year. ning outcomes, the state has placed an unwavering focus on the goals of the public agenda. The third area of emphasis within the state’s public agenda is the focus on student learn- ing and accountability. A key part of our focus in this area has been to deepen the align- Conclusions ment across both the secondary and postsecondary levels of our education system. Such The paradox of American higher education is that while the pressures on academe to P–20 efforts are centered upon curricula alignment, early identification of college readiness, serve as both the great social equalizer and a vehicle for economic development have in- early remediation of academic deficiencies while students are enrolled in high school, and creased, the economic commitment provided to the corpus has decreased. In many states, enhanced professional development via faculty exchanges. To support these objectives, the funding for higher education has declined signifi- commission developed a series of report cards for parents, students, policymakers and the cantly as a result of the Great Recession, a trend Over the course of five general public that demonstrate the quality and performance of public higher education. that will only grow more troubling in the years to These reports address numerous accountability indicators such as academic preparation, come. Current economic pressures are forcing consecutive legislative participation, affordability, educational outcomes, and staffing. Much of this work formed institutions to redefine their missions and be- sessions significant the foundation of the state’s participation in Complete College America, the SREB college come more efficient in the delivery of their ser- completion initiative, and former Governor Joe Manchin’s Complete to Compete initiative vices. While the demands on higher education annual improvements as chair of the National Governors Association. Under Manchin’s leadership, significant fo- are increasing, the economic capacity to handle cus was placed on college completion, a policy realm that is a particularly large challenge these demands is decreasing. have been made to the for West Virginia, where the systemwide six-year college completion rate is below 50 per- The decades of shifting the funding responsi- state’s financial aid cent. In order to bring attention to the issue and develop a clear plan for addressing it mov- bility away from state appropriations and toward ing forward, higher education leaders have developed a systemwide taskforce that cuts students’ resources have not been the result of a programs. across institutions and brings together business and university leaders, faculty members, well planned or thoughtful policy discourse. K–12 representatives, and students to identify barriers to completion and develop plans for Given the critical role that higher education plays as a facilitator of human capital develop- achieving the state’s goals. ment, policymakers must remain attentive to the diverse needs of all students requesting ac- The final area of the state’s public agenda, economic growth and innovation, strikes to cess to postsecondary education. Unless careful and deliberative attention is given to the es- the core of the changing expectations placed on our nation’s system of postsecondary insti- tablishment of a public agenda for higher education that builds consensus and support for its tutions. As noted in a broad array of articles published by the National Center for Public broad goals, the academy will continue to suffer a loss of support in the American polity. u Policy and Higher Education, the success of institutions will be determined by the extent to which they serve as drivers of economic expansion, job creation and human capital devel- Brian Noland is chancellor of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission. opment. In order to remain competitive in an increasingly diverse global marketplace, insti- tutions must strive to utilize the creative capacities of their faculty to drive innovation, re- search and service to our communities. As part of West Virginia’s efforts to implement the economic imperatives of the public agenda, presidents from across the system worked in concert with members of their respec- tive governing boards to highlight the importance of investing in applied science and re- search to stimulate economic growth and job While West Virginia creation. Over a four-year period, $60 million in state funding was secured for research via the has a rich Eminent Scholars Recruitment and Enhance­ ment initiative and the “Bucks for Brains” complement of need- Research Trust Fund. Each of the programs re- and merit-based quires institutional matches of state funds, thereby doubling the impact of the initial state aid programs, investments. Targeted toward the state’s two re- it faced mounting cost search institutions, Marshall University and West Virginia University, these programs have as- “Critical Thinking” and demand pressures sisted institutions in their efforts to recruit schol- that placed the ars with demonstrated research competitiveness Can assessments determine whether college in specialties that build on their core research largest aid programs strengths. students are learning what they need to know? In addition to these efforts, the commission, By William R. Doyle in jeopardy. in conjunction with the Battelle Memorial Institute, is working to redevelop the West he findings reported in “Academically Adrift,” the recent book by Richard Virginia Education, Research and Technology Park, which served as the former interna- Arum and Josipa Roksa, have come as a shock for the higher education community. tional headquarters of the Union Carbide Corporation. The Park serves as the backbone of TThe authors report on a study in which the Collegiate Learning Assessment (CLA) the state’s growing economic and community development efforts and provides a venue was given to students at four-year colleges across the country at the beginning of their fresh- through which the resources of the institutions can be brought to bear in a collaborative man year and in the spring semester of their sophomore year. The CLA measures critical manner with regional industries to create new economy businesses in West Virginia. thinking among college students. It is a written assessment that gauges the ability of students to make or break arguments in a coherent and well-reasoned fashion. According to the au- Contextual Issues—Impacting Policy Outcomes thors, only about half of the students in their sample showed any improvement on this as- One of the items central to the development of the public agenda in West Virginia was sessment in the first two years of college. This is shocking: Could it be that so few students the establishment of a shared commitment among legislative, executive and external con- make any gain at all in critical thinking in the first two years? stituencies for the goals of the public agenda. As the plan evolved in West Virginia, mem- Probably not. The basis for the claim that only 45 percent of students show any learning bers of institutional governing boards also became integral partners in the process. Key leg- continued next page Page 14 CROSSTALK from preceding page colleges and universities will create an educated workforce that can ensure graduates with a gains is an analysis that does not adhere to standard methods of calculating improvement. good standard of living. Every test administered to students results in a score that has two components. First, there’s The higher education community has developed several high-quality, but indirect, as- the component that’s due to the student’s actual performance on the assessment. In the case sessments of collegiate performance. We need more assessments that tell us exactly what of the CLA, this is the part of the score that reflects the student’s critical thinking ability. The students know and are able to do. Arum and Roksa’s finding of a 0.5 standard deviation second part is due to measurement error—this is the component of the score that is due to gain in critical thinking skills over the first three semesters of college could be worrying or an essentially random set of circumstances that would make students score higher or lower not—one would have to be quite knowledgeable than they ought to, given their actual level of critical thinking skills. For instance, some stu- While the increases in about the psychometric properties of the exam dents with strong critical thinking skills may not respond well to a certain question on the to assess this finding. Business leaders and the test, while other students with weak critical thinking skills may possibly perform better be- critical thinking may public could readily assess the meaning of tests cause the exam asks about an area that they happen to know well. Measurement error on a that told us what percentage of students are pro- well-designed assessment like the CLA is, on average, zero. Yet for any individual student, not be occurring in as ficient in interpreting a budget, or drawing up a the amount of measurement error might be quite large. few students as the plan for directing a project, or interpreting the Roksa and Arum, in a methodological appendix co-written with Melissa Velez, acknowl- results of a laboratory test. edge that the CLA has a large amount of measurement error. Not to worry, they say, since authors suggest, there Despite the fact that two of the major con- measurement error simply makes estimates at the group level somewhat less precise. They is no way to stituencies of higher education are concerned argue that this is not problematic, as the CLA should not be used for high-stakes assess- primarily with specific skills and knowledge, we ments of individual learning. characterize it as still have not turned the corner in assessing Yet, puzzlingly, the authors subject the students in their sample to exactly this kind of anything other than higher education to be able to say what students high-stakes test. To determine whether students know and are able to do. The same arguments According to Richard have increased their critical thinking between modest among for why this isn’t appropriate were also aired entering college and the spring of their sopho- students as a whole. during the standards revolution in K–12 educa- Arum and Josipa more year, the authors compare each individual tion. They were just as unconvincing then. student’s scores from the first time they took the In some of the few assessments that have Roksa, only about test to the second time. If the student’s score did been conducted recently that actually measure students’ specific knowledge and skills, the half of the students in not increase by more than a benchmark deter- results were no more encouraging than the results from the Arum and Roksa study. For in- mined by the authors—a benchmark described stance, the National Assessment of Adult Literacy found that only 31 percent of college their sample showed by Alexander Astin in the Chronicle of Higher students scored as being proficient in quantitative literacy, a stunning revelation given that any improvement in Education as “utterly arbitrary”—they say that these are precisely the kinds of skills most rewarded in the current labor market. the student did not learn during their three com- It’s time to stop beating around the bush and instead begin directly measuring what stu- critical thinking in pleted semesters in college. According to this dents know and are able to do. It’s not as though these kinds of assessments do not exist the first two years of calculation, 45 percent of students did not im- now. A large percentage of students, from several of the most popular undergraduate ma- prove their critical thinking skills. This calcula- jors, must take standards-based exams to be licensed in their fields. Teachers, engineers, college. tion is highly sensitive to the benchmark chosen. nurses and accountants, amongst others, must take a high-stakes exam that measures spe- If one were to choose slightly different bench- cifically what they know and are able to do in their current fields. Of course, there is debate marks for increases in learning, the proportion of students determined to have improved or about the quality and relevance of these exams. This hasn’t stopped their widespread adop- not would change markedly. tion. The reason is that for these fields there is a general acknowledgment that we must This is not the way we usually calculate gains in learning. Instead of comparing individu- have some standard of quality for graduates. It is not enough in these fields to simply trust als, we compare groups. When the authors compared the sophomores in their sample to the that students will get what they need from college. But for the large group of undergradu- freshmen as groups, they found that, on average, scores did increase. This increase was ates who do not plan to work in fields that require these certifications, there is no standard modest, but real. In fact, when calculated on a semester-by-semester basis, the amount of of quality beyond the degree from their institution. Why do we trust colleges in these areas gains in learning shown by students in the Arum and Roksa study is about the same as the but not in others? amount of gains in learning calculated by Terenzini and Pascarella in their comprehensive Even though students in fields such as nursing or engineering have been subject to spe- summary of student learning in the 1980s. The gains shown by students in the Arum and cific standards of learning that will be measured on exams, instruction in these areas hasn’t Roksa data were apparent across sub-groups, including those with differing levels of paren- been completely devoted to “teaching to the test.” Instead, the traditions of academic free- tal education and students from different racial or ethnic groups. dom and faculty governance have worked exactly Arum and Roksa’s results do provide us with an important addition to our body of like they should. In institutions where the results Most students come knowledge. They confirm that students gain a modest amount of critical thinking skills in of these tests are taken seriously, the faculty have their first two years of college. Their subsequent analyses also provide us with important shown a large amount of flexibility in adapting to college so they confirmation of several of the factors that have long been suspected to affect learning in their instruction so that students can learn what higher education. Students who spend more time on classwork and homework perform bet- faculty think is important and be able to measure can get a better job. ter on critical thinking tests than their peers. Students who are more engaged in academic up to the standards of the field. The two concepts They expect that life—being enrolled in a campus where faculty have high expectations, studying by them- are not divorced from one another. selves out of class—show bigger increases in critical thinking than students who do not. Indeed, it is actually much easier, and intellec- they will learn some Students distracted by other parts of their life, and most importantly by non-academic extra- tually richer, to shape instructional activities specific concepts and curricular activities, show lower increases in critical thinking skills. around specific learning goals rather than more The work by Arum and Roksa joins a long line of studies that indirectly measure some general concepts such as “critical thinking.” While actual skills so that of the things we hope will happen in college. This includes increases in critical thinking, aca- it seems likely faculty do indeed hope that their they can be demic engagement, social engagement, changes in work habits, and general increases in ma- students gain in their ability to think critically, it turity. Their work, like the other work, demonstrates that it is simply not enough to expect also seems unlikely that they specifically teach employable when that colleges and universities, left to their own devices, will ensure that learning gains occur. this. Instead, one imagines that faculty teach what While the increases in critical thinking may not be they’ve been hired to teach—English, chemistry, they leave. occurring in as few students as the authors sug- It’s time to stop music, physics, and so on. It’s much more likely gest, there is no way to characterize it as anything that a chemistry professor will be able to reshape her instructional techniques in order to other than modest among students as a whole. beating around the improve learning in chemistry as opposed to improving critical thinking. It is important to know that increases in criti- For the purposes of public policy, what we need to know is the level of educational capi- cal thinking are quite modest in the first two years bush and instead tal in the population as a whole, including the population of college graduates. Work by of college. Yet most students don’t come to college begin directly Margaret Miller and Peter Ewell as part of the Measuring Up project has led the way toward to increase their critical thinking skills. They also this objective. We next need to understand the contribution of colleges and universities to don’t come to college to do the kinds of things that measuring what this level of educational capital. Last, we need to understand how colleges and universities other indirect assessments, like the National students know and can go about ensuring appropriate levels of performance relative to real standards for spe- Survey of Student Engagement, measure. Instead, cific topics. None of these steps needs to happen in exactly the same way in every state, nor most students come to college so they can get a are able to do. for every college. There is adequate room at every stage for diversity and experimentation. better job. They expect that they will learn some Continuing with further indirect measures of collegiate outcomes will give us the same specific concepts and actual skills so that they can be employable when they leave. kinds of results we have seen—appealing, revealing, yet ultimately difficult to act on. It’s Similarly, a large part of the support that colleges and universities enjoy with the broader time to get to the specifics of what needs to change. u population and with the business community have little to do with any of the peripheral ac- tivities associated with a college education. Instead, the public and businesses expect that William R. Doyle is an assistant professor of higher education at Vanderbilt University. CROSSTALK Page 15 D a

get hearing in the Great Hall. They’ll go ties, steadily raising tuition to offset vi d L e v enson, Black St ENGLAND anywhere to make their voices heard their own budget cuts, can’t seem to from page 1 against the tripling of fees in a movement decide. But England has, at least lic employees earning more than $34,000 a that is as stubborn and persistent as it ap- from students’ point of view. And year, hiking sales and capital-gains taxes, pears futile. they’re not happy about it. and increasing the retirement age to bring “Please, can you be quiet!” the chair- Higher education, says David down an estimated $1 trillion pension obli- man thunders at them, with no apparent ef- Willetts, the minister of education, gation. fect. “is clearly both” a public and a pri- ar, for C rossTalk They have also moved to shift much The students will be only slightly af- vate good. “It’s good for the econ- more of the burden of the cost of higher fected by the draconian city budget. Their omy as a whole, and it’s of course education off the cash-strapped govern- presence here is easier to understand when good for social capital,” he said. “But ment and onto students, letting British uni- a council member starts to speak who is there is a very clear economic gain versities as much as triple their fees to a from the Liberal Democratic Party, which for individuals in terms of extra life- maximum of £9,000, or $14,490, starting in pledged before the last elections to oppose time earnings, and given that here is 2012. The financing structure is increasingly a university fee increase but broke its word this direct financial benefit, it is rea- similar to the American one (with all the after joining the Conservatives in the gov- sonable to expect the graduate to associated problems, including expected erning coalition. Nick Clegg, leader of the pay back the cost of their higher edu- declines in diversity), though in England Liberal Democrats, and now deputy prime cation.” students will not have to pay the cost until minister, has been beaten by students in ef- No it isn’t, says Charlotte Palmer, after they graduate, in increments based on figy and had to have a cordon of security a student at Manchester Metro­ their incomes. around him at his own party’s spring con- politan University, whose mother is a If a camel is a horse designed by a com- ference. (Clegg has said his party’s reversal social worker likely to lose her job. mittee, the same principle appears to apply was forced by the precarious state of the “Education should be a right. But it’s to a budget drafted by a coalition. This one country’s finances, and that the only alter- going back to being something only “It is reasonable to expect the graduate to pay has succeeded in angering everyone and for the privileged,” she said. “The back the cost of their higher education,” says pleasing almost no one—including the peo- An austerity campaign money should be taken from bank- David Willetts, the minister of education. ple who proposed it, who turn out to have ers and from people who can afford little control over whether universities is meant to reduce a it.” Raising university fees, said Palmer, “is fee of $1,610. honor provisions meant to help low-income record UK peacetime indefensible when the bankers are getting In 2003, the Labour government under students pay. What’s happening in six-figure bonuses.” Tony Blair let universities set their own tu- Manchester is only the latest local vestige budget deficit that will Pierced and tattooed, Palmer was ition up to $4,830—after having promised of the tempest. speaking over a cigarette in front of Roscoe in the preceding election not to do so— These dramatic changes, combined with hit $235 billion this Hall at the University of Manchester. Two which would be repaid by students after the other public-service cuts, amount to year—11 percent of the lecture halls inside the building—named graduation. Universities lobbied hard for class warfare, say newly radicalized stu- for Sir Henry Roscoe, a 19th-century pro- this “top-up” fee, which was supposed to dents, who have taken to the streets by the gross domestic product. fessor of chemistry who was instrumental in cover the amount of money they said they tens of thousands to demonstrate against moving what was then called Queens needed on top of their allocations from the the government. They swarmed Conser­ native to raising university fees would have College to this site, and who later served as government, and almost all of them imme- vative Party headquarters, breaking win- been to increase the already high income chancellor of the University of London and diately charged the maximum allowed and dows and hurling a fire extinguisher from tax, which Conservatives staunchly oppose, a minister of parliament—have been occu- kept pushing to increase it again. the seventh floor onto police below. (No or cut spending on science and other pro- pied since February by small groups of stu- If any party is happy with the fees ar- one was seriously hurt.) They famously sur- grams.) dents from all over the north of England in rangement, it’s the universities, for which rounded a Rolls-Royce limousine heading The Liberal Democrats are working to protest of the fee increase. The conversa- the revenues will help make up for almost to the theater with Prince Charles and his get more money for Manchester, the tion was taking place outside because a se- $4.7 billion in government funding cuts un- wife, Camilla, the resulting photos of whose speaker at the city council meeting insists, curity guard had thrown out a journalist at der the austerity measures over the next panicked faces were immediately flashed but there’s only so much they can do. the direction of the university’s press office, few years (offset slightly by a one-time $435 around the world. “It’s lucky you’re in the government, which also later barred a photographer. million infusion to make room for 14,000 A major university town, Manchester then, isn’t it?” a student in the audience “You Are Being Lied To!” blare the more students in science, technology, engi- has been a particular hotbed of this dissent, shoots back sarcastically, giving voice to the posters hanging from the building’s walls, neering and math in September). and students are well represented among sense of betrayal that has motivated him next to handwritten schedules and placards. “We know these are difficult decisions, the chanting demonstrators at the city bud- and others like him to break windows, Students man a table draped with more but in an era of public funding cuts, we throw fire extinguishers, signs and piled high with pamphlets, under have to look fairly and squarely at who and attack the royals. the gaze of the hyper-vigilant guards, whose pays for the cost of higher education,” said What’s happening in disposition isn’t helped by the fact that, as Steve Smith, president of the university as-

A lex F olkes England is a referendum public employees, they have seen their pay sociation Universities UK. “The alterna- on the hottest philosophical frozen and overtime eliminated. (One tives would mean universities having to re- argument in international guard, a student confided, brings them duce the number of student places or higher education, over snacks.) returning to a period of underfunding. Both whether it is a public “It’s really just a right-wing ideological of these would be hugely damaging to stu- good—profiting society at attack,” said Omid Kashan, a first-year dents, universities and the economy.” Less large by providing an in- Manchester student. “There’s no other way money from the government also means formed, competent and to look at it. It’s for the rich. It’s just another less vulnerability to political shifts, less bu- competitive citizenry—or a way to keep the working people from get- reaucratic interference, and more freedom private one, benefiting the ting an education. There’s an argument that for the public higher education sector, students who receive it, by you never see the money” until the bill which has long been tightly regulated. “It’s increasing their potential comes after graduation. “But it’s hanging potentially quite good news for the univer- earnings. over you.” sities,” said Bahram Bekhradnia, director Neighboring Ireland, Ideological or not, the imposition of tu- of the independent Higher Education which has kept its univer- ition has occurred in England with breath- Policy Institute. “They’re the winners in all sity registration fee com- taking speed. Maximum charges of less of this.” paratively low in spite of than $15,000 may not seem worth rioting But the plan has quickly seemed to un- fiscal pressures arguably over when U.S. private universities’ tu- ravel. The government expected only a even worse than those in ition, room and board costs more than small number of the most elite universities the UK (see related article three times that much, but students until to raise their tuition to the maximum Nick Clegg, leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, on page 3), has so far come recently paid nothing at all to go to English $14,490, but after a brief period of waiting and now deputy prime minister, says the precarious down on the “public good” universities. It was not until 1998 under each other out, one after another—Oxford, state of the country’s finances forced his party to break side of the debate. Conservative­ Prime Minister John Major Cambridge, Exeter, Durham, Surrey, its pledge to oppose a university fee increase. American public universi- that they were charged a first-ever tuition continued next page Page 16 CROSSTALK

from preceding page thought the government should pay at be repaid and not repaid,” said P HO T OS B Y D a Imperial College London—announced least half the cost of higher education, be- Thomas. “As a result, the govern- that they would charge the full amount, lieving that the public benefits were equal ment are going to have to find extra

just as they had done in 2003. When 150 to the private ones. (In a survey, 222 com- money, because they’re not going to vi d L e v enson, Black St academics at the University of Cambridge panies that do business in the UK pre- find as many savings as they petitioned administrators to explain their dicted that higher tuition fees will result in thought.” One result, he said, is that decision in detail and guarantee financial a less qualified and diverse supply of grad- the cuts in direct appropriations to aid, the appeal was rejected. “There has uates. Some, including KPMG, Glaxo­ universities may have to be even not been a really serious attempt to see SmithKline and Deloitte, say they will now deeper. So while students would be how you might reduce costs in the interests paying much, much more tuition,

hire new employees as trainees at 18, pay ar, for C rossTalk of affordability for the student,” carped them a salary, and put them through they’d be getting much, much less. Malcolm Gillies, vice chancellor of London school, or reimburse the workers’ univer- In fact, many universities have Metropolitan University, which, in a rare sity fees.) already merged or closed depart- break in the ranks, became the first univer- The universities’ decisions won’t just ments and reduced services and sity to set tuition lower than the maximum. force students and their families to pay staffs. “I can’t see the reasoning in Students, after all, keep coming. There more than they want to spend. They might cutting so much and then raising are almost 400,000 more students in undo what the government had hoped to fees on top of that,” said Jasmine English universities now than there were save. Dunning, who plans to begin at uni- before tuition started to be charged. The The problem is that the government versity next year but is already tak- number of applicants rose nearly 12 per- will have to cover the cost of students’ tu- ing part in the Manchester sit-in. cent last year and another 5.1 percent this “They do need to make up their Gareth Thomas, the Labour Party’s shadow year. What’s happening in minds.” minister for education, says the government’s The government promised it would Then there is the vexing issue of plan to recover tuition costs from students after make sure universities provide enough fi- England is a how to make European Union stu- they graduate is “smoke and mirrors.” nancial aid to keep low-income students referendum on the dents who go to university in England­ re- ernment recoups none of its investment in from being shut out, but that assurance pay their tuition after graduation. Under higher education. “And for the universities seemed to ring hollow when its own watch- hottest philosophical EU rules they have to be treated (and there’s the same amount of resource com- dog agency, the Office for Fair Access, re- charged) the same as English students, but ing in as there was before. I see it as a win- assured the universities that they would argument in when they return home they will be out of win.” not face sanctions except for “serious and international higher UK jurisdiction. EU students already owe Besides, Willetts said, the change will willful” violations—and that this did not the British government $269 million, up bring a needed structural reform. Where include failing even to meet their own tar- education, over from $68 million in 2008, even without the now the government sets enrollment num- gets. whether it is a public tripling in fees, and the number of EU stu- bers, and funds universities based on them, That is an important issue because the dents at English universities continues to “In future, the money will go with the stu- commission that proposed the higher fees, good or a private one. rise significantly. “It seems obvious to me, dents to the universities that the students chaired by former BP chief executive Lord but it seems difficult for the government to choose. It is a liberalization,” he said. “We Browne of Madingley, conducted research ition until they graduate, find a job, and admit, that it will be much more difficult to are trying to move toward a much more (which it left out of its report) showing that reach a certain income threshold, after get the loans repaid by students living in flexible system at the micro level. The com- students and their parents thought tuition which they will repay the money just as if it other countries,” said HEPI’s Bekhradnia. petition will be first of all between existing over $9,660 was unreasonable. “Those were a loan. This has political advantages, (Non-EU foreign students, many from the universities, because we hope it will be eas- from lower socioeconomic groups were since categorizing these payments as loans United States, pay tuition of as much as ier for universities at the high end to ex- more debt averse and concerned that the means they won’t be counted toward the $41,860, a huge source of income for the pand their places. But there will indeed be tuition-fee premium of a more expensive deficit, and the cost of any defaults will be universities, which have been fighting a alternative providers and a flexibility in the course was not necessarily worth the asso- the problem of some future government, change in visa rules expected to signifi- system to ensure that alternatives will ciated debt,” the survey found. “Some stu- not this one. But Gareth Thomas, the cantly reduce it. Last year one out of every come in. We’ve already got some, like BPP, dents and parents from across socioeco- Labour Party’s shadow minister for educa- ten dollars earned by English higher-edu- but I suspect there will be more.” nomic groups thought that variable fees tion, calls it “smoke and mirrors.” cation institutions was paid in by non-EU Even here, Bekhradnia said, “The rhet- might reinforce a perception that some That’s because, with more universities students from abroad.) oric is that the taxpayers shouldn’t fund universities and courses were only for than expected charging the maximum tu- In the end, Bekhradnia said, “if the teaching directly. That suggests that the those from higher-income households.” It ition, the plan will cost the government sums were right, it could give rise to sav- said most students and their parents some $1.3 billion more than anticipated to ings in public spending. The reality is that At the University of subsidize students while the sums are probably wrong, and the they are in school, ac- spending will be, if not as great as now, Manchester two lecture cording to the research then not very much less. The taxpayer may halls have been arm of the House of be better off, but I suspect not, because the Commons—almost half government will probably be paying more occupied since of what it hoped to save than it bargained for.” February by small by cutting direct pay- The government has warned that if too ments to the universi- many universities charge the highest fees, groups of students in ties in the first place. it will retaliate by making deeper cuts in di- (The Higher Education rect allocations, including for research. protest of the fee Policy Institute, which Settling so widely on the maximum tuition increase. is based in Oxford, also will be “extremely hard for institutions to calculates that the gov- defend,” Willetts said in a speech at the public benefit of higher education is close ernment’s projections of University of Nottingham. He said some to zero. The private benefit is all there is, income-based repay- were “rushing to £9,000 without thinking and the student should be forced to pay.” ments are based on about the impact on students.” Willetts is Back in Manchester, the city council, to overly optimistic esti- also trying to foster competition by sup- no one’s surprise, passes its austerity bud- mates of what students porting private universities, including pri- get, and the students return to their sit-in. will earn when they vate, for-profits with U.S. ties such as BPP, Charlotte Palmer takes another drag on graduate.) owned by University of Phoenix parent the her cigarette. Wait until the higher charges “The one bit that Apollo Group. take effect, she says. Then you’ll see real will stay on the main Even in the worst case, Willetts said, protests. u public accounts is the the math does add up. “If you replace Less money from the government, with higher fees, is estimate of what won’t £1,000 of teaching grants with £1,000 of Jon Marcus is a writer based in Boston “potentially quite good news for the universities,” says be repaid, and the esti- fees and loans, of which you get back even who covers higher education in the U.S. Bahram Bekhradnia, director of the Higher Education mates vary wildly £700, it makes sense all around,” compared for the (UK) Times Higher Education Policy Institute. “They’re the winners in all of this.” around how much will to a current system under which the gov- magazine. Presidential Leadership for Public Purpose MAY 2011

A Special Report by the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education

t has become a well-rehearsed litany. Declining public appropriations ourselves, is that most of the institutions we lead were founded by men and for higher education by states with reduced tax revenues and increased women who, having understood the need to respond to societal challenges, demands to fund healthcare, roads, prisons, and K–12 education as first- made institutional change their first priority. Public policy and public agencies order priorities. Tuition increases that each year substantially exceed the were often their institutional partners in promoting a vision of change and a growthI of family income, threatening to put a college education beyond the commitment to excellence. The Morrill Act of 1862, which led to the creation reach of too many low-income students. A changing demographic profile that of a national system of state land-grant universities, foresaw the need for a ought to yield an increasingly diverse college student body but is not doing so. population that, because it knew more, could do more. Though signed into The growing prominence and market success of private-sector/proprietary law during the upheaval and uncertainty of the American Civil War, the Morrill providers as well as alternative modes of educational delivery through digital Act conveyed a powerful vision of the nation’s productive vitality in the technology and other means. Questions about the effectiveness of learning coming age. and the value of the education that universities and colleges provide, as mea- Following the Second World War a second of set of federal initiatives fur- sured by the rates of student persistence and graduation. A seeming gridlock ther transformed American higher education by making clear that the nation’s that often prevents institutions from adapting to change by any means other colleges and universities—and by extension, their president-leaders—were than growing larger and adding to existing costs. And finally, an abridgment of to be principal vehicles for fulfilling the vision of a nation prepared to provide the hope that doing a better job of documenting higher education’s value would global leadership. The first was a largely serendipitous federal investment in yield an increase in public support—combined with an instinct that greater American higher education—the GI Bill, which resulted both in an expanding public financial support will never come about without such evidence. It is a set pool of college-educated workers and a federal commitment, later formalized of questions that pertains not just to effective learning and the financing of in the 1970s, to making a college education broadly higher education but equally to the continued ability of colleges and universi- available. The rapid expansion of the American econ- Our roundtable brought ties to serve the public interest. omy during this time increased living standards for The discussions these questions have engendered are often as fractured nearly everyone and made it possible for growing together presidents of as the list of lamentations is long. Too often, the resulting debates are without numbers of American families to send their children focus, frequently without apparent purpose, and, alas, too often missing the to college. Shortly after the GI Bill’s implementation, a universities and colleges voices of university and college presidents. In previous epochs, presidential compelling report published in 1945 by Vannevar leadership was a force for change in American higher education, as university Bush, entitled “Science, the Endless Frontier,” em- across the full spectrum and college presidents served not just as witnesses and respondents but also phasized the critical importance of scientific discov- as active shapers of the national dialogue. ery and progress not just for the advancement of hu- of higher education, To engage presidents more directly in what is becoming an increasingly man well-being, but also for the nation’s strategic rancorous discussion of higher education’s current priorities, the National purposes in what had become a world theater of ide- including leaders of public- Center for Public Policy and Higher Education convened a set of presidential ological and military contention. Bush’s case for sci- sector, independent, and soundings and exchanges in the spring and summer of 2010 with funding from ence ultimately yielded the creation of the National the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Lumina Foundation for Education. The Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health, proprietary universities process included one-on-one interviews and a two-day roundtable discussion providing the foundation for the development of the to consider higher education’s role in meeting the nation’s need for a more modern research university in the United States. and colleges. highly educated and skilled population in a time of dramatic change and uncer- Complementing these federal investments were tainty. In all, the process involved presidents of 28 universities and colleges— the equally dramatic increases in local and state spending for higher educa- including two- and four-year institutions large and small, public and indepen- tion. The expansion of the community colleges during the 1950s and ’60s, as dent, proprietary and nonprofit. A Presidential Roundtable convened in well as the establishment of regional universities, often as part of new state Leesburg, Virginia, in July 2010 included 16 of the 28 presidents initially inter- university systems, further extended the promise of college to any student with viewed who were able to participate. The goal of these presidential soundings a desire to learn and a willingness to work hard. was to provide a vision of higher education’s continued vitality in a time of fiscal constraint, and to offer a set of actions that presidents can take to help both Constricting Horizons their institutions individually and the nation collectively to move forward. By nearly everyone’s account, the landscape of expanding opportunity created in earlier times of societal vision and commitment has now become a Vision and Commitment constricted range for growing numbers of students, particularly those for The irony confronting all college and university presidents, including whom the cost of attending college is a major consideration. The percentage of PAGE 2

whites who have earned a cate students in the numbers required to increase the nation’s competitiveness Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor in a global economy. Virtually every state now faces severe constraints in its of Science continues to out- ability to support the system of traditional public and independent higher edu- pace the degree attainment cation institutions within its borders. Public universities and colleges inevitably rate of Hispanics and African find that the amount of their budgets funded by state appropriation accounts Americans by a factor of for a steadily shrinking share of the whole. For the past 30 years, both public roughly two to one. and independent nonprofit institutions of higher education have met the need For those of us who partici- for additional resources, in large part through tuition increases which have pated in the Presidential averaged three percent to five percent above inflation and growth in family Roundtable, this disparity in income per year in real dollars. college participation and at- The nation’s system of higher education is often described as a pyramid in tainment has become higher which the foundation layer consists of students attending open-enrollment education’s principal chal- institutions, including students who matriculate in community colleges, techni- lenge—one that directly con- cal institutions, and proprietary institutions offering two-year degrees or certifi- fronts the nation’s continued cation in targeted employment skills. Further up the pyramid is a substantial vitality, particularly when cou- cohort of students in public regional universities as well as in less selective pled with two other facts. First, independent liberal arts colleges. The next stages of the structure include stu-

Presidential Roundtable facilitator Robert Zemsky, professor and chair, the United States has fallen dents in state flagship research universities, and finally students enrolled in the the Learning Alliance for Higher Education, University of Pennsylvania substantially behind many of nation’s most selective independent colleges and research universities. (left), and Gail Mellow, president, LaGuardia Community College the nations with which it com- As it tapers toward the top, the pyramid comprises an ever smaller number petes in the global marketplace in terms of the proportion of its citizens with a of institutions with selective admissions that enroll the nation’s highest-achiev- Photos by John Troha, college education. Second, the populations that are growing the fastest across ing students, who in many cases are also the most advantaged students in Black Star, for CrossTalk the United States are those that have been least well-served by the current terms of educational and socioeconomic background. What may be less clear system of higher education. More here is at stake than simple equity. What is from the image of the pyramid itself are the different expenditures made to edu- required is a fundamental expansion of educational opportunity, as expressed cate students at each tier of the structure. In fact, the dollars expended per in the Obama administration’s call for an additional eight million college gradu- student in the lower tiers of the system are substantially less than the dollars ates by 2020 beyond those currently predicted to earn a college degree. spent to educate students in the upper strata. From the standpoint of meeting At the same time, there is a continuing need to educate all Americans, pro- the nation’s need for a better educated and more highly skilled population in the viding the critical knowledge and skills that allow graduates to function as coming decades, the higher education pyramid as it now exists would need to thinking, engaged, and contributing members of society throughout life. The be inverted. challenges of the future will require an American population that possesses It is the nation’s community colleges and regional universities—open-en- verbal and numerical literacy, critical thinking, and effective communication as rollment or less selective institutions with a strong mission to promote educa- a foundation for participation in a nation based on demo- tional access—that have experienced the effects of financial recession in the cratic principles. most direct and painful ways. In recent years, these institutions have accom- In previous epochs, Many have observed that higher education has modated substantial growth in enrollment with little or no corresponding in- evolved into a mature industry, organized and run in es- crease in public appropriation; very often these two- and four-year institutions presidential leadership sentially the same way for half a century. Dramatic feel the double whammy of increased enrollment accompanied by double-digit was a force for changes have occurred through these decades—in the percentage reductions in the rate of state appropriation. The inevitable result is nature of societal needs and challenges, in methods of larger class sizes, a deteriorating ratio of full-time to adjunct faculty, and fewer change in American creating information, and in modes of teaching and learn- opportunities for the direct faculty-student interaction and mentorship that of- ing. Changes in the nation’s demographics are yielding a ten mark a turning point in a student’s life. Some community colleges in particu- higher education, as population that is more diverse in terms of ethnic, cultural, lar have found themselves stretched to the very limits of their capacity, forced and economic background—a population whose mem- to turn away applicants with a sobering message that says essentially, “There university and college bers bring widely divergent levels of preparation for col- is no room at the inn.” lege, who approach the act of learning in different ways, Too often universities and colleges tend to focus more intently on emulating presidents served not and who are accustomed to using digital technology as their more selective peers than on taking stock of their students’ learning just as witnesses and an integral part of their learning. needs and helping them achieve educational success. Institutions of every kind The problem, simply stated, is that American higher respondents but also education at its core remains vested in a structure de- signed for a student population more characteristic of as active shapers of the past decades than of the present or future: a structure designed to serve what was then a middle-class, pre- national dialogue. dominantly white student body—a subset of the 18- to 22-year-old population that had chosen to attend college even though other opportunities had then existed for productive employment without a college degree. This was a student population that for the most part matriculated directly from high school, enrolled full-time, and graduated in four or five years. With the virtual disappearance of opportunities for unskilled labor in the U.S., in this century a college education has become essential for anyone who seeks meaningful employment and social mobility. However broad the spectrum of traditional higher education institutions in terms of mission, size, and control, too many have yet to recognize what it means to provide students from a broader range of educational and socioeconomic backgrounds with an education that allows them to find fulfilling and productive places in the work- Craig Swenson, chancellor, Argosy University System (left); Paul Zingg, force and in society itself. president, California State University, Chico; and Gregory Wegner, Managing Editor, Policy Perspectives, Knight Higher Education American higher education faces a major challenge in its capacity to edu- Collaborative, University of Pennsylvania PAGE 3 naturally seek to enroll students of promise among their study body, though in the 18th century, educate a rising some cases a desire to attract the best and brightest can eclipse a commit- generation in the agricultural and ment to educate students from a range of educational, ethnic, and socioeco- engineering sciences in the 19th nomic backgrounds including first-generation college students. Very often the century, or train K–12 teachers for the strategic vision pursued is to advance an institution on the scale of public es- influx of the baby boom generation in teem—whether measured by the annual media rankings of colleges and uni- the 1960s and ’70s—there is now far versities or by other factors that make an institution appealing to the more ad- less willingness to regard universities vantaged and high-achieving students, to the public, and to other members of and colleges as special kinds of the profession generally. institutions, deserving of respect and The element that tends not to figure substantially in the visions and strate- support as stewards and creators of gic plans of institutions is a concern for measurable improvement in learning. knowledge. The more typical strategy is to The financial recession of the The expansion of the focus an institution’s imagina- past two years has increased the tion, energy, and resources on public perception of higher education community colleges becoming more selective, institutions as being more attuned to more attractive to the best their own vitality than to the well- during the 1950s and students and faculty, rather being of those they serve. Recent than on configuring the institu- national surveys conducted by Public ’60s further extended tion to educate the student Agenda indicate that while most body of the future. While there Americans consider higher education Daniel Hamburger, president and CEO, DeVry Inc. the promise of are promising signs in some as essential for a fulfilling and eco- college to any student states that have mandated nomically productive life, a growing proportion of the American public per- steps for more seamless trans- ceives no essential difference between the behaviors of traditional higher edu- with a desire to learn fer between two- and four- cation institutions and other enterprises concerned mainly with their own fi- year institutions, many four- nancial health. In a Public Agenda survey conducted in 2007, 52 percent and a willingness to year institutions need to build agreed with the statement that “colleges today are like most businesses and more constructive relation- care mainly about the bottom line.” In 2008, 55 percent assented to this state- work hard. ships with regional community ment, and by 2009, 60 percent of survey respondents conveyed this view. A colleges to facilitate coherent declining share of the public now regards colleges and universities as institu- progress for students who have chosen to begin their college education in a tions chiefly concerned with the quality of education they provide or the afford- less costly institution. ability of their academic programs. Even less likely to appear in the aspirations of most four-year public and In another respect, it is the tension between changing societal priorities independent higher education institutions is a goal of working constructively and the seeming inertia and introspection of traditional institutions that feeds a with regional K–12 schools to foster a better understanding among students of decline in the intrinsic value accorded to higher education. Perhaps no societal the advantages that result from a college education, and to help students and institutions, including colleges and universities, can ever be perceived with the schools identify the middle and high school courses and the habits of mind that same generosity of spirit in the wake of continuing public scandals involving best prepare one for college-level study. The fact that K–12 teachers are virtually every profession from Watergate forward. There are also many cases trained for their professions by the nation’s universities and colleges represents in which societal values themselves become fixated on matters that lead to a substantial and largely missed opportunity to establish strong linkages of costly and often unproductive outcomes. The U.S. has become a nation that reciprocal engagement with teachers and their school systems, helping to re- spends more on prisons than on higher education. In higher education itself, an alize the vision of a more seamless K–16 education. example of skewed priorities can be seen in the fact that in some institutions, intercollegiate sports attains a stature and appeal out of all proportion to its role Value and Utility in fostering a student’s educational and social development in college. Continuing these trends will inevitably result in a further separation be- Beyond these factors, the sense of exasperation often heard among policy- tween the prevailing nature of higher education and the most pressing needs makers and the general public stems from a sense that many public-sector and of a nation struggling to maintain its place in a global economy. Many regard independent universities and colleges, particularly four-year institutions, are higher education as having commodified itself, having lost much of the passion slow to respond to and commitment that characterized an earlier time when the goals of universi- emerging changes ties and colleges were perceived to be more closely aligned with the nation’s in social and eco- needs for higher education. Some foresee a worst-case scenario in which nomic circum- higher education devolves further into a series of niche markets—in which the stances. Too often most selective institutions offer a boutique education to those most able to pay, there is a sense of in which proprietary institutions with low overhead costs attract growing num- disconnect be- bers of students to career development programs for which there is high mar- tween the language ket demand, and in which public institutions highly dependent on declining of legislators and state appropriation experience both an erosion of educational quality and a the public, on the diminished appeal to potential students as tuition increases place them beyond one hand, and the the threshold of affordability. language of tradi- One result of this increasing commodification of higher education is a tional higher educa- weakened proclivity among parents, students, policymakers, and the general tion institutions on public to regard higher education as having intrinsic value—a quality in its own the other. Higher right that prepares students for a lifetime of learning and growth and thereby education adminis- strengthens the nation’s social, moral, and civic well-being. The more prevalent trators and faculty disposition is to regard higher education in terms of its utilitarian purpose. talk about the val- Robert Atwell, president emeritus, American Council on Education (left), and While the rationale for the support of higher education has never been devoid ues that inform Richard Legon, president, Association of Governing Boards of Universities and of practical considerations—ranging from the need to train future pastors in learning and the Colleges PAGE 4

pursuit of knowledge. versity are both internal and external. Any proposal for a change in academic Those outside the acad- programs or personnel can expect to encounter resistance from faculty; apart emy talk about the need from the natural instinct to protect one’s own domain, the internal argument for jobs and a population against radical change is that it will cause the institution to lose standing with employable skills. among peer institutions. Board members can also align themselves with par- One of the great chal- ticular programs and intervene to prevent needed reform. Many public univer- lenges confronting sities and colleges find another impediment to change in the strong regulatory higher education is to environment state governments have created, which in some cases requires connect these two con- state approval for virtually any step that an institution or a set of public institu- versations more effec- tions wishes to take. tively than before. Not every institution needs to change in the same way; differences in mis- These factors, in sion will point to different courses of action in different universities and col- combination with a ma- leges. Regardless of the type of institution, however, a process of meaningful jor economic recession, change will require strong presidential leadership in order to succeed. A prac- have helped to feed a tice of simply staying the course, pressing on in the hope of renewed public set of attitudes among appropriation, is not a strategy for the future. As long as universities and col- policymakers and the leges present themselves as being continually in need of more money, both the general public very dif- public and its elected officials will likely consider higher education as part of James Votruba, president, Northern Kentucky University (left), and Patrick ferent from those that the problem, not the solution. Callan, president, the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education gave rise to the Morrill Act, the GI Bill, and the higher education amendments that created the Pell Different Modes of Proceeding grant program. The current assessment by legislators and other public policy- Even though the exemplars of meaningful change in higher education re- makers is that higher education, given its prevailing inward focus, is not a major main comparatively few, our conversation identified several instances of inno- part of the solution to the challenges facing the nation; in fact, many perceive vation that offer the hope of new pathways through the gridlock of conven- that, unlike K–12 schools, colleges and universities are neither in crisis nor can tional practice within the academy. Some of these constitute meaningful steps they be counted upon to help reshape the nation’s agenda. to work within the culture of traditional public and independent universities and colleges. Others are initiatives that essentially begin with a blank slate, setting Structure and Change about to create educational programs of value from the ground up. The financial recession of the past two years has driven home a sobering Streamlining the curriculum. One of the prime opportunities any institution awareness that colleges and universities cannot expect to receive a substan- can pursue to make the pathway to a degree more straightforward and effi- tial reinvestment of public dollars. Even if state governments were in a position cient is to focus the programs of study more directly on essential courses that to appropriate more dollars, neither higher education in general nor a state’s publicly financed colleges and universities would likely rise to the top of the list of contenders for increased public funding. While policymakers may consider higher education to be important, there are three observations about these institutions that are likely to give pause to legislators in any consideration of resource priorities: • Universities and colleges as a whole have not been as responsive as they could have been in meeting the evolving public need for higher education, preferring instead to grow and develop on their own terms. • Too often traditionally organized colleges and universities, both public and independent, seem incapable of innovation or change except by adding to the full range of programs currently in place. • Many universities and colleges have not succeeded in improving either persistence or degree attainment. Collectively these observations represent a call for greater agility and in- novation on the part of our institutions as well as a capacity to increase sub- stantially the proportion of citizens who both begin and complete a college edu- cation. In a more fundamental sense, the observations There is a continuing represent a call for higher education institutions to be- Donald Farish, president, Rowan University (left), and Frank Friedman, come more accountable for the dollars that states pro- president, Piedmont Virginia Community College need to educate all vide them. In the minds of many policymakers, busi- are fundamental to the institution’s learning goals. Many colleges and universi- ness leaders, and the general public, higher education ties have experienced a proliferation in course and program offerings as a re- Americans, providing institutions too often seem unwilling to be held ac- sult of the laissez faire environment that gave rise to dramatic curriculum ex- countable for the public dollars invested on their behalf. pansion from the late 1960s forward. In a system that requires 120 credits to the critical knowledge Our institutions must accomplish what to many will graduate, it is not uncommon to find that more than one-third of students who appear a truly daunting task of educating more stu- graduate have taken 145 or more credits. This phenomenon represents tre- and skills that allow dents while simultaneously doing what they have mendous inefficiency not just for the institution but also in terms of costs that graduates to function as largely proved unable to do for the last 50 years—cur- students incur in earning a four-year degree. tail those habits and customs that have caused our The array of courses listed in the catalogs of many institutions today thinking, engaged, and costs to increase substantially faster than household evokes the image conveyed 25 years ago by the Association of American Col- income. leges (now AAC&U) in its “Integrity in the College Curriculum”: that the under- contributing members of Even when our institutions want to change, the graduate curriculum has become a smorgasbord in which anything goes. forces acting to preserve existing programs, customs, While the thought of making structural change in the curriculum to increase society throughout life. and procedures remain extraordinarily strong. The the effectiveness of students’ progress toward the degree may seem attractive agents that can inhibit change within a college or uni- in the abstract, achieving this goal is extraordinarily difficult for any traditional PAGE 5

the academic disciplines served essentially as stewards of important knowledge. One of the essential skills higher education must impart to students in the digital age is the ability to think critically, to discern the value of information they encounter, and to make responsible choices based on what they have discovered. Some institutions have taken a further step in applying the tools of technology to rethink fundamen- tally the teaching and learning process. Such innovations often em- phasize project-based learning and concept mastery over the sheer memorization of content which can easily become outdated. Regardless of how far an institution chooses to pursue the av- enues to improve learning through technology and alternative pedagogies, there is a need to American higher mentor faculty members in the use of these tools to meet the learning needs of current and future education faces a major students. Working effectively in these modes can result in increased student success in learning challenge in its capacity and graduation. Learning from private-sector institutions. The to educate students in dramatic and steady growth in the number of the numbers required Jane McAuliffe, president, Bryn Mawr College (left), and Charles Reed, chancellor, the proprietary institutions of higher education California State University through the past decade makes clear that these to increase the nation’s college or university in the U.S. It is a goal that cannot be achieved without institutions have introduced a viable and important set of presidential leadership. Curricular reform requires that an institution take a options to higher education. Private-sector institutions do competitiveness in a deliberate step back from the array of graduation requirements both within the not experience the constraints that often inhibit change in major and general education. Requirements for some disciplinary majors result traditional colleges and universities; they have proven global economy. from national accreditation standards, though in other cases a growth in the themselves particularly adept in addressing the needs of number of required units for the major may derive primarily from a department’s adult learners who must combine education with work and other responsibili- wish to sustain its enrollment levels. ties. The enrollments of proprietary institutions now approach 12 percent of all At a time when fewer students may aspire to graduate school, it is reason- postsecondary education enrollments in the U.S. To be certain, there are able in some cases to ask how many specialized courses for a major are actu- pointed questions and increasingly vociferous disagreements—among policy- ally necessary. Reducing the number of electives could also result in a more makers, higher education leaders, and members of our own roundtable—con- focused curriculum and a sense of shared progress among cohorts of stu- cerning potential abuses in recruitment and financial aid practices as well as dents, who would be more likely to proceed together through the curriculum the quality and utility of some program offerings in proprietary institutions. Yet and provide mutual support in learning. Such a step could also effectively in- proprietary institutions have clearly found ways to respond to shifting demand crease the institution’s capacity to staff courses in the core curriculum with for higher education with greater alacrity than traditional public-sector or inde- full-time tenure-line faculty, pendent institutions. yielding a reduced need for The increased flexibility of proprietary colleges and universities derives With the virtual adjunct faculty and a reduction principally from their different traditions of ownership and decision-making. In of costs. Making headway on proprietary institutions, it is the institution, rather than the faculty, that owns the disappearance of curriculum reform must involve curriculum. The institution can set standards for instructional quality and opportunities for steps that make such a change method, and then scale its programs up in multiple settings. The institution has in the faculty’s own interests. no obligation to offer a full range of courses, and it need not continue a pro- unskilled labor in the Creating a more focused and gram if the market demand has diminished. The profits that proprietary institu- direct set of routes to the de- tions earn are allocated not just to shareholders and taxes but also to capital U.S., in this century gree could reduce institutional expenditures to enhance the learning environment of students. Private-sector costs and increase the likeli- institutions have also proven themselves more proficient than most traditional a college education hood of students completing colleges and universities in applying technology their studies and graduating in a to achieve their educational purposes. has become essential timely way. The difference everyone focuses on, how- for anyone who Applying digital technology. ever, is that faculty in private-sector enterprises Beyond its ability to support generally do not receive tenure or even the as- seeks meaningful distance education, digital tech- surance of continued employment. While propri- nology creates the capacity to etary institutions do employ some full-time pro- employment and rethink the processes of teach- fessors, the appeal made to most faculty is very ing and learning. Digital tools much a “pull” strategy—one that attracts faculty social mobility. infuse the interactions between members through incentives—the prospect of students and faculty in tradi- auxiliary income, linked in some cases with the tional college courses, creating a variety of modes for instruction and dialogue opportunity to approach the teaching and learn- both within and outside of class. Technology creates avenues for faculty mem- ing process in different ways with different stu- bers to engage students in different ways, and to create new teaching materi- dents. Many of those who serve as instructors at als in digital form. A generation of students has come of age in the presence of private-sector institutions are also tenure-line technology, and these students fully expect that their own learning process will faculty members at traditional universities and involve digital means of interaction with the faculty, their student peers, and colleges; and it is sometimes observed that fac- sources of knowledge. ulty members who are strong and vocal advo-

The power of the Internet has created an environment of unmediated ac- cates of academic governance in their “home” Gene Block, chancellor, University of California, cess to information, in contrast to an earlier time when higher education and institutions are more amenable to policy changes Los Angeles PAGE 6

implemented by the managers in a proprietary setting. We do not believe the issue is tenure per se—it is a practice that has served higher education well in preserving and strengthening the indepen- dence of the faculty-scholar. We do believe, however, that the active consider- ation of other forms of contractual relationships between those who teach and the institutions they serve is long past due. Creating revenue-generating centers within not-for-profit institutions. A promising strategy to serve public purposes and generate an alternative source of revenue is to establish self-funding units within a traditional public or independent institution. One possibility is to create a The financial recession program of adult continuing education within a public or independent university or college. Often these units of the past two years has are able to explore different models and reconfigure themselves to address emerging needs and opportuni- driven home a sobering ties in ways that the traditional academic program can- not. Because they serve primarily students who are awareness that colleges seeking educational skills and certification for employ- ment, these units may not elicit the full respect of an and universities cannot institution’s more traditional academic departments. expect to receive a Part of the challenge is to create the incentives—to Richard Lariviere, president, University of Oregon exercise the “pull strategy”—that helps faculty mem- both budget our resources and teach our students. Institutions will need to substantial reinvestment bers see the benefits that result from the ability to in- explore and take advantage of new models, drawing from promising in- novate expeditiously in continuing education programs. stances of innovative approaches to change within traditional public and in- of public dollars. A program of this kind can operate as a limited liability dependent institutions, as well as from private-sector providers that constitute company (LLC), in effect combining attributes of a not- a vital and growing share of higher education. Institutions will need to con- for-profit mission with a unit that generates revenue to cover its costs and sider curriculum reform as a core element both for improving educational provide incentives for faculty to participate. In such an arrangement, state attainment and containing costs. Even more broadly, colleges and universities funds may well support the university’s core undergraduate and graduate need to evaluate what they teach, how they teach it, and how they evaluate programs, while the adult education classes are funded entirely from that pro- learning success. gram’s own tuitions. While faculty members are not typically required to teach Responding successfully to these challenges will result in a roster of insti- in an institution’s continuing education program, there are incentives for them tutions that are less homogeneous, more distinctive in character and structure, to act in ways that benefit the public interest as well as their own professional as each sets about to improve the learning of its students while constraining development. what it costs to deliver an effective and quality edu- In the minds of many Presidents to Presidents: Making Personal Commitments cation. While no president In our willingness to take on the significant challenges facing higher edu- can single-handedly en- policymakers, business cation, at times speaking what others might well consider the unspeakable, we sure this result, no institu- drew strength from our very diversity. Our roundtable brought together presi- tion will likely succeed in leaders, and the general dents of universities and colleges across the full spectrum of higher education, both improving student including leaders of public-sector, independent, learning and constraining public, higher education and proprietary universities and colleges. Our costs without presidential conversation exemplified the extent to which leadership. The same par- institutions too often there is essential agreement among different adox applies to the ques- seem unwilling to be sectors of higher education in the assessment tion of ensuring that Amer- of current challenges and in the kinds of ac- ican higher education held accountable for the tions institutions can take to address those comes to be truly repre- challenges. At the same time, none of these sentative of the national public dollars invested challenges can be effectively addressed with- body politic. No amount of out the strong leadership that presidents must presidential exhortation on their behalf. provide. The actions that we propose require a will close the attainment strong personal commitment of presidents to gap—yet no institution on its own is likely to contribute to the necessary re- pursue as key goals in their professional lives. making of the nation’s collective student body in the absence of strong leader- Our recommendations are made in the first ship on the part of its chief executive. person plural: By speaking in this collective Here, then, is our collective agenda for presidential action: voice, we underscore the need for a kind of presidential leadership that is willing to work Be a Public Advocate for the Beneficial Impact of Higher Education collaboratively with others to achieve shared • Convene the conversations—within your institution and with higher educa- goals, within and across higher education insti- tion’s external stakeholders—that focus on higher education’s sustaining tutions. commitment to advance public well-being by providing a high-quality, af- As we hope we have made clear, we un- fordable education to a changing population of learners. derstand that the issues confronting higher • Articulate the need for public institutions to have sufficient flexibility within education are both substantial and often divi- state regulatory structures to pursue alternative approaches to fulfilling sive. What American higher education will their mission in a changing financial, demographic, and learning environ- require in the decade ahead is a willingness to ment. Stephen Lehmkuhle, chancellor, University of Minnesota rethink its deeply embedded structures. There • Make a personal commitment to reach communities of young people who Rochester (left), and David Maxwell, president, Drake University will need to be changes in how our institutions are underrepresented in higher education. Visit schools, churches, com- PAGE 7

munity organizations, and other venues to convey both the benefits that can no longer expect to win public support through an assurance that result from a higher education and the kinds of courses in middle and high “inside the black box, amazing things happen to students.” Commit your school that prepare students for college success. institution to voluntary accountability reporting that demonstrates how it is • Make a concerted effort to tell your institution’s story, particularly as it re- meeting its educational goals. lates to achieving public purposes. Cite examples—to legislators, and to the public in general—of how your institution has transformed the lives of A Continued Journey graduates. Though it was not without tough-minded candor that we confronted the challenges facing the nation’s colleges and universities, our roundtable conver- Develop Partnerships with Other Stakeholders sation nonetheless gave cause for optimism. Our exchanges over two days • Lead the efforts within your institution to strengthen partnerships with K–12 reaffirmed the essential schools, building on the fact that colleges and universities train the nation’s mission and purpose of our K–12 teachers for their professions. Work with leaders of K–12 schools to universities and colleges to develop ways of helping more students understand both the benefits of a serve the nation’s public college education and the steps needed to prepare for college study well-being through educa- through the middle and high school years. tion and the creation of new • Forge meaningful linkages with K–12 schools that can help advance edu- knowledge. Different though cation at all levels. Without presuming that higher education can “fix” the our institutions are in some challenges confronting K–12 schools, presidents should provide public respects, they share a com- support and offer assistance as requested by K–12 leaders to ensure that mon heritage and commit- more students are able to read, write, and perform arithmetic functions by ment to serving public pur- fourth grade. This benchmark offers a telling measure of students’ likeli- pose. The changes our insti- hood of achieving educational success, in school or in college. In taking tutions have experienced these steps, a president affirms that program completion is a full system and will continue to face are problem involving higher education as well as K–12 schools. substantial, and the path- • Establish strong partnerships among two- and four-year institutions in the ways to meeting those chal- local region to minimize the hurdles students often encounter in the trans- lenges are neither simple fer process. nor straightforward. Most of

our institutions bring strong David Breneman, university professor, University of Virginia (left); Lead Your Institution in Understanding Challenges and Making Needed Change commitments to faculty Catharine Hill, president, Vassar College; and Richard Celeste, president, • Draw the attention of faculty to the changing environment for higher edu- autonomy, curriculum, col- Colorado College cation and the implications of those changes for your institution in the fu- legial governance, and organizational structure. These traditions have contrib- ture. The issues of higher education quality, affordability, and capacity must uted substantially to higher education’s achievements while helping ensure the be topics of active discussion inside your institution as well as without. freedom of academic pursuit and the integrity of institutional decision-making. • Lead your faculty in understanding the changing composition of higher Presidential leadership of the kind we describe does not mean issuing education’s student body—in terms of ethnicity, financial circumstance, proclamations and expecting broad compliance; it means working productively modes of learning, and goals after graduation—and the implications of with faculty members, providing them with information on changes within soci- those changes for higher education in the decades ahead. ety and higher education, and gaining their trust as partners in a shared effort • Work to shed new light on the common, though mistaken, assumptions to ensure the continued vitality and well-being of the institution. The specific about the cyclical rebounding from a financial recession. Actively counter actions presidents must take to lead the process of transformation will differ by the perception within your institution that the most fitting strategy is to hun- institution as each confronts the need for change in the context of its particular ker down and await the return of more favorable economic circumstances values and culture. We are convinced that with rather than engage in meaningful structural change. strong and effective presidential leadership of this Our roundtable conversation • Provide strong leadership to eliminate some of the obstacles that prevent kind, colleges and universities will continue to your institution from doing the right thing in fulfillment of core educational progress on a course that stresses commitment to gave cause for optimism. and social values. For example, impress on tenure committees the need to quality and inclusiveness, even in an environment take account of the important service that an African American faculty of reduced public resources. Our exchanges over member contributes to your institutional mission in being a mentor to mi- It is often observed that no other country has nority students. equaled the United States in the rich capacity and two days reaffirmed the • Lead the charge in bringing the full power of institutional commitment to diversity of its higher education institutions. Col- beneficial actions that too often exist as isolated boutiques or cottage in- leges and universities have been part of the fabric essential mission and dustries within your institution. Commit your institution to goals that lend of this nation and a strong factor in many of its purpose of our universities themselves to measurement and accountability for achieving a public pur- spectacular achievements through the 20th cen- pose—for example, a goal of enrolling a certain percentage of the student tury. Yet higher education’s seminal contributions in and colleges to serve the body who are first-generation college students, and actively supporting the past do not guarantee its success in educating their educational progress and success. a student population that is larger, more diverse in nation’s public well-being culture, ethnicity, educational and economic back- Provide Strong Leadership for the Improvement of Learning ground—and one that differs from previous gen- through education and the • Provide professional development opportunities and support for faculty erations in its modes of learning and sequencing of members who seek to improve your institution’s graduation rate. Support higher education. Quite simply, more of the past creation of new knowledge. faculty efforts to develop evaluation procedures and intervention strategies cannot suffice for serving the nation’s educational that can increase the rate of student persistence and success. needs in the future. College and university presidents must take the lead in re- • Support the measures of persistence and sustained learning as criteria for minding their faculty of the primary role of higher education in ensuring the institutional effectiveness. Lead your institution in such actions as adopting nation’s continued economic productivity, civic engagement, and competitive a Head Start program for tutoring students preparing for college. strength in the years ahead. Nothing less than the sustaining, forceful leader- • Commit your institution to adopt better means of assessing the teaching ship of presidents is required to advance the heritage of higher education in the and learning process—what happens “inside the box.” Higher education 21st century. u PAGE 8

his essay derives from a Presidential Roundtable convened in July 2010 in Leesburg, Virginia, by the National Center for The following presidents were interviewed Public Policy and Higher Education. The National Center has focused primarily on policy issues concerning higher edu- for the Presidential Roundtable: cation access, affordability, and learning effectiveness within state contexts. Among the Center’s seminal contributions T Edward Ayers to the public policy dialogue are the series of state-by-state report cards, Measuring Up, a series of policy essays, as well as its President work with Public Agenda to gauge public opinion about higher education’s contribution to the nation’s public purposes. University of Richmond The National Center, with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Lumina Foundation for Education, launched an initiative to bring university and college presidents more directly into the national dialogue concerning the challenges and Donald Eastman prospects facing higher education. The process began with individual interviews of presidents of 28 higher education institu- President tions, including the heads of state university systems, public research universities, public comprehensive institutions, commu- Eckerd College nity colleges, private-sector institutions, and independent colleges and universities. A summary document recounting the think- ing of presidents on several key questions was prepared and distributed to all of those who had been interviewed. That sum- John Fry mary served as background for the roundtable discussion. President The following individuals were participants in this roundtable and helped shape the resulting essay’s central themes: Franklin & Marshall College Robert Atwell Stephen Lehmkuhle President Emeritus Chancellor Gordon Gee American Council on Education University of Minnesota Rochester President The Ohio State University Gene Block David Maxwell Chancellor President John Hitt University of California, Los Angeles Drake University President University of Central Florida David Breneman Jane McAuliffe University Professor President Freeman Hrabowski, III University of Virginia Bryn Mawr College President Patrick Callan University of Maryland, Baltimore County Gail Mellow President President National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education Mark Huddleston LaGuardia Community College President Richard Celeste Charles Reed University of New Hampshire President Chancellor Colorado College William Kirwan The California State University Chancellor Donald Farish University System of Maryland President Noreen Savelle Rowan University Executive Assistant National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education Robert Mendenhall Joni Finney President Vice President Craig D. Swenson Western Governors University National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education Chancellor Practice Professor Argosy University System Diana Natalicio University of Pennsylvania President James C. Votruba University of Texas at El Paso Frank Friedman President President Northern Kentucky University Eduardo Padrón Piedmont Virginia Community College College President Gregory Wegner Miami Dade College Daniel Hamburger Managing Editor, Policy Perspectives President and CEO Knight Higher Education Collaborative John Schlegel, S.J. DeVry Inc. University of Pennsylvania President Catharine Hill Robert Zemsky Creighton University President Professor and Chair Vassar College The Learning Alliance for Higher Education The interviews of presidents were conducted by Robert Atwell, David Breneman, John Immerwahr, and Robert John Immerwahr University of Pennsylvania Zemsky. David Breneman prepared a summary of themes Professor of Philosophy Nancy Zimpher from the interviews of presidents, which provided founda- Villanova University Chancellor tions for the Presidential Roundtable discussion. The Richard W. Lariviere State University of New York Presidential Roundtable was facilitated by Robert Zemsky, President and the essay developed from the roundtable discussion University of Oregon Paul Zingg was drafted by Gregory Wegner and Robert Zemsky. President Richard Legon California State University, Chico President Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges

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