THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234

 

TO:	The Honorable the Members of the Board of Regents
FROM:	Johanna Duncan-Poitier
COMMITTEE:	Higher Education and Professional Practice
TITLE OF ITEM:	Statewide Plan for Higher Education, 2004-2012: Next Steps
DATE OF SUBMISSION:	December 23, 2003
PROPOSED HANDLING:	Discussion
RATIONALE FOR ITEM:	Update on the development of the Statewide Plan for Higher Education
STRATEGIC GOAL:	Goals 1, 2, 3, and 4
AUTHORIZATION(S):

 

SUMMARY:

 

Every eight years, in collaboration with the higher education community, the Board of Regents develops and adopts a Statewide Plan for Higher Education, setting statewide goals and objectives for higher education in New York State.  The Statewide Plan serves as a unifying document to bring together the resources and talents of the higher education community to address critical areas for New York State’s residents and higher education system.  The Plan focuses on major issues centered around the role of higher education in New York, including the services institutions provide to the State’s residents, workforce, and communities. 

 

The Statewide Plan incorporates the long-range master plans of the State University of New York (SUNY), The City University of New York (CUNY), and New York’s independent and proprietary colleges and universities, which address priorities identified by the Regents in addition to sector and institutional priorities.  We have increased our efforts to work collaboratively with the higher education community in the development of the 2004-2012 Statewide Plan for Higher Education. The higher education sectors have responded positively to the development of our overall document to assist in higher education planning in our State.

 

            In April 2003, the Regents established 13 Regents Priorities for the Higher Education System, for the Statewide Plan, across seven categories. In May 2003, the Department issued The Bulletin of the Statewide Plan for Higher Education, 2004 – 2012.  The Bulletin identified Characteristics of a Highly Effective Higher Education System and set forth the 13 Regents Priorities (Attachment A). The Department asked SUNY, CUNY, and each independent and proprietary college and university to address the Regents Priorities in their master plans.  The Statewide Plan will include the SUNY and CUNY master plans, which are approved by the Board of Regents; consolidated plans for the independent and proprietary sectors prepared by the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities (cIcu) and the Association of Proprietary Colleges (APC), which are reviewed but not approved by the Board of Regents.

 

Since the distribution of the Bulletin, the colleges and sectors have been preparing their master plans.  Staff have consulted with the four sectors and have provided technical assistance to individual colleges and universities. The Commissioner’s Advisory Council on Higher Education has contributed significantly to the statewide planning process and continues to review progress made by institutions as they develop their plans.

 

Proprietary colleges will send their master plans to APC by the end of January; independent colleges will send their master plans to cIcu by the beginning of April.  SUNY and CUNY are expected to send their master plans to the Board of Regents in the spring or summer.  The Regents may wish to schedule hearings regarding the SUNY and CUNY plans after they have been received.  Education Law §237 requires that the Regents issue a Tentative Statewide Plan and hold a public hearing before adopting the new Statewide Plan in the fall of 2004.   

 

            The mission of the Board of Regents and the State Education Department is to raise the knowledge, skill, and opportunity of all the people in New York.  For the 2004-2012 Statewide Plan for Higher Education, the Regents adopted the following commitment:  “New York State is a world leader in education.  Working together in a highly effective higher education system, the State’s colleges and universities – public, independent and proprietary – will demonstrate even greater leadership during the first decades of the 21^st Century to continue to advance the educational and economic needs of the State and its people.” 

 

Over the next year, the Regents and the Department will be discussing policies and other ways that we can support higher education institutions in achieving the priorities of the Statewide Plan. Among the key ways in which the Regents and the Department contribute to supporting and enhancing the higher education component of The University of the State of New York:

 

·         Planning – The Regents and the Department work collaboratively with colleges and universities on large and small-scale planning for higher education.  The Commissioner’s Advisory Council on Higher Education (that includes the leaders of each higher education sector), for example, provides one of several forums where policymakers discuss and resolve issues affecting the system’s ability to meet the State’s current and emerging needs for higher education.

 

The institutions themselves also collaborate with the Regents to help address critical statewide needs, such as the shortages of teachers, nurses, and pharmacists in the State.  Working collaboratively, the institutions, the Regents, and the Department often find ways around barriers that, in the past, prevented statewide needs from being met.

 

·         Assuring Quality – The Regents and the Department establish standards for higher education institutions and programs and work with institutions in maintaining those standards.  This includes chartering institutions, approving branch campuses, acting on changes to institutions’ master plans, registering programs, and accrediting institutions and teacher education programs.

 

The Opportunity Programs are excellent examples of effective initiatives to support students’ access and success in higher education.  The Regents and Department have also promoted quality preparation of teachers for hard-to-staff schools and have encouraged new ways for nontraditional candidates to become teachers.

 

·         Advocating – Along with the Legislature and the Governor, the Regents and Department staff advocate for improvements in the higher education system.  Recent advocacy efforts urged additional funding for the Tuition Assistance Program (TAP), Opportunity Programs, and postsecondary education for students with disabilities.

 

·         Information Sharing – The Regents and the Department provide institutions with critical data for planning, information on best practices, and models to address existing problems in our higher education system.

 

·         Assessing and Evaluating – The Department collects data on the operation of the higher education system and can present a meaningful overview of higher education in New York using State and federal data.

 

Through on-site monitoring visits of institutions and accreditation visits for both institutions and teacher education programs, the Department examines the system’s effectiveness and provides assistance to institutions for program improvement.

 

·         Developing and Revising Policy Through Guidelines and Regulations – With the statutory role of the Regents and the Department, and on the basis of the Board’s efforts in planning, quality standards, advocacy, and information sharing, the Department influences changes in higher education programs and services.  It does so through the development of guidelines and through the regulatory process.  For example, right now, in collaboration with the higher education community, the Department is examining both distance learning and off-campus instruction in New York State to determine whether improvements are needed.

 

Within the context of these six key ways and others, the Board of Regents and the State Education Department contribute to the Statewide Plan and the Regents decide on the strategies that would be most effective in advancing the Regents Priorities for the Statewide Plan for Higher Education.  Examples of strategies include seeking legislative action to authorize new programs; making budgetary proposals; adopting, amending, or repealing regulations; conducting studies and disseminating their results; making policy statements; and promulgating guidelines.  Strategies proposed in past Statewide Plans led to the creation of such programs as STEP and CSTEP and the Centers for Advanced Technology.

 

An important step in the development of the Statewide Plan is the analysis of the master plans from the four higher education sectors. The Department will review these plans based on the Regents Priorities for higher education. In the fall, the Department will make recommendations to the Regents for initiatives and strategies to support the sectors’ master plans in the furtherance of the Regents Priorities.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Attachment

Attachment A

 

ELEMENTS OF A HIGHLY EFFECTIVE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM

 

Consistent with their missions, all higher education institutions in New York State:

 

• avidly pursue knowledge related to their missions, through research where appropriate, and share that knowledge with other institutions and individuals wishing to learn;

 

• give students the ability, through quality education, to develop ethical, intellectual and social values; effectively contribute to society and the workplace; and engage in lifelong learning;

 

• admit all qualified applicants within the institution’s resource capability to offer them a quality education, provide adequate financial assistance to ensure access and affordability to all applicants, and assist enrolled students to succeed in their studies;

 

• cooperate with other higher education institutions, individually and in consortia, in sharing resources for an efficient and cost-effective system, and by avoiding unnecessary duplication of effort by students in their progress toward a degree;

 

• collaborate with elementary and secondary schools to assist, where possible, in preparing pupils to enter and succeed in higher education and, if teacher education is their mission, to prepare quality teachers to meet the State’s need for certified teachers;

 

• collaborate with government and community organizations to identify pressing and emerging needs of society and devise effective ways to address those needs;

 

• collaborate with the professions and the people they serve to identify related needs that can be addressed by higher education, through new research initiatives or preparation of professionals with new knowledge and skills, and to devise effective ways to address those needs;

 

• collaborate with businesses and other organizations to identify their needs that can be addressed by higher education through new research initiatives or preparation of a workforce with new knowledge and skills, and to devise effective ways to address those needs, thus advancing development of intellectual capital, the economy, and related needs of New York State;

 

• provide New Yorkers with opportunities to learn using technological resources and other means including quality distance education; and seek excellence through ongoing self-study and study of the environment for the purpose of continual improvement.

 

REGENTS PRIORITIES FOR THE HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM

 

The Regents priorities for New York’s higher education system for 2004-2012 are directed at making the system even more effective at meeting the needs of New York’s people.  The priorities are organized under the following categories:

 

               I.      Maximizing Success for all Higher Education Students

             II.      Smooth Student Transition from PreK-12 to Higher Education

            III.      Strong Graduate Education to Meet the State’s Needs

         IV.      Creation of New Knowledge through Research

           V.      Qualified Professionals for Every Community throughout the State

         VI.      Qualified Teachers, Leaders, and Other School Professionals for New York’s Schools

        VII.      A Balanced and Flexible Regulatory Environment to Support Excellence

 

 

 

I.   Maximizing Success for all Higher Education Students

 

A.  Regents Priority:  High Educational Quality.  The Regents ask institutions to describe in their master plans how the results of their ongoing self-study processes improve the quality of students’ education. 

 

B.  Regents Priority: Articulation.  The Regents ask institutions to describe in their master plans how they will improve articulation between two- and four-year colleges, among public, independent, and proprietary colleges and universities, and between undergraduate and graduate programs and institutions to assist students at every level in their progress towards a degree.

 

C.  Regents Priority:  Affordability.  The Regents will continue to collaborate with higher education institutions to advocate with State and Federal elected officials for an effective fiscal strategy to ensure access and an affordable higher education for all students.

 

D.  Regents Priority: Closing Performance Gaps.  The Regents ask institutions to focus in their master plans on student retention and on activities to help close performance gaps based on students’ economic status, ethnicity, race, or gender.

 

E.  Regents Priority:  Students with Disabilities.  The Regents ask institutions to focus in their master plans on access and success for their students who have disabilities.  The Regents will work with the higher education community to assure that institutions have adequate financial support to maintain and initiate appropriate programs and services for these students.

 

 

 

 

II.  Smooth Student Transition from PreK-12 to Higher Education                                 

 

A.  Regents Priority: Preparation for College.  The Regents will strive to eliminate gaps in student performance based on economic status, race, ethnicity, or gender.

 

B.  Regents Priority:  Information and Assistance in Preparing for College.  Beginning with pupils in the middle school grades, the Regents encourage collaborative efforts among the Department, colleges, and school districts to publicize the variety of services and information available to help K-12 pupils and their families access and prepare for success in future college study and to assure that information is clear and understandable by potential students and their families.

 

 

III.  Strong Graduate Education to Meet the State’s Needs

 

A.  Regents Priority:  Meeting New York’s Needs.  The Regents will advocate that our colleges and universities, and the State and Federal governments, strengthen graduate education.  Institutions are asked to identify the emerging areas of scholarship for which they will need faculty, their needs for new faculty to replace those departing or retiring, and the extent of their need for faculty reflecting the diversity of New York’s student body.

 

 

IV.  Creation of New Knowledge through Research

 

A.  Regents Priority:  Contributing to New York’s Needs through Research.   The Regents encourage institutional initiatives and ask institutions to describe in their master plans their research priorities and their recommendations to New York State relating to the discovery and dissemination of new knowledge, including knowledge to inform and support the development of policies to help meet the State’s economic and social needs. 

 

 

V.  Qualified Professionals for Every Community throughout the State

 

A.  Regents Priority:  An Adequate Supply of Qualified Professionals.  The Regents and the Department will continue to monitor supply, demand, and changing conditions for all professions and will strengthen efforts to:

 

·         Communicate to the institutions of higher education the results of their monitoring activities;

·         Seek input on changes in the professions from the institutions with professional preparation programs, based on their research and experience; and

·         Encourage and enable institutions to respond to existing and emerging needs by keeping pace with technology, supporting the continuing education of licensed professionals, ensuring a close link between preparation and practice, and working to improve access to the professions and to provide an adequate supply of professionals throughout the State.

 

 

VI.  Qualified Teachers, Leaders, and Other School Professionals for New York’s Schools

 

A.  Regents Priority: An Adequate Supply of Qualified Teachers and School Leaders.  To provide all pupils with the high-quality education to which they are entitled, the Regents will work with the State’s higher education institutions and K-12 educational community to meet the needs of our schools for decades to come by:

 

·         Recruiting, preparing, and retaining an adequate supply of qualified teachers for all subject matter areas and for all geographic locations throughout the State; and

·         Recruiting, preparing, and retaining outstanding school leaders.

 

 

VII. A Balanced and Flexible Regulatory Environment to Support Excellence

 

A.  Regents Priority: Encouraging a Highly Effective System.  The Regents and the Department will maintain avenues of communication to assure that colleges and universities are aware of regulations and their application and have an opportunity for input.  The Regents priority will remain to ensure a regulatory environment that helps to sustain and support a highly effective system of higher education.

 

B.  Regents Priority:  Funding a Highly Effective System.  The Regents will advocate for increased State funding for higher education in New York.  New York State ranks 36^th among states in per capita state expenditures for higher education.