Ohio colleges to improve quality of education

DATELINE: COLUMBUS, Ohio

The new University System of Ohio will seek to increase the number of students in higher education by about 50 percent, while investing more money in high-performing programs and inevitably, less money in other programs, said Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents. 

The system will bring together all of Ohio's public higher education institutions in an effort to make Ohio's colleges more competitive in the global economy.

During the next decade, the plan will bring together all 13 of Ohio's public universities, 43 community colleges, adult career centers, literacy programs and a public medical school to provide affordable and high-quality education to all Ohioans.

The plan includes increasing enrollment in Ohio's public colleges by 230,000 students in the next 10 years. Current enrollment is about 470,000.

Fingerhut said the plan will focus on "centers of excellence" that have already developed at different institutions. Funding to these areas of expertise will increase in an effort to make the programs world-class and globally competitive.

In a public system with limited resources, investing in these "centers of excellence" might mean cutting funding to other areas.

"The way to do that is to take what's excellent at each of our institutions ... and focus on them, improve them and lift them up instead of taking resources and investing them in areas that perhaps are not as central or do not have as much of a track record of excellence," Fingerhut said.

Each institution, however, will continue to have a strong general curriculum, including liberal arts and science, he said.

Fingerhut could not discuss specific programs at Ohio State because the final plan has not been released yet.

Because of the way higher education is currently structured, there is often competition between public universities in Ohio trying to do the same things for the same people, Fingerhut said.

In the new system, however, the mission of each institution will be different.

"Having (each institution) focusing on different types of education, different areas of expertise and building centers of excellence ... (will make sure) the system as a whole contains all of the elements of a world-class system of higher education," he said.

Community colleges and technical schools are also included in the University System of Ohio.

"These institutions will reach out to everybody regardless of their level of preparedness for college and give them the skills they need to build their current job possibilities ... (and) hopefully transfer that education to a university," Fingerhut said.

The 10-year master plan, which will be ready by March 31, will outline what the system will look like in a decade and will include benchmarks along the way, Fingerhut said.

He said it is possible for the university system to change in 10 years, and in a decade Ohio's higher education system will look completely different.

"No school can do everything that Ohioans need on their own," Fingerhut said. "But all of us working together can make sure that all Ohioans have the educational opportunities they need."

W. Randy Smith, vice provost for curriculum and institutional relations at Ohio State University did not return repeated calls for comment.

(C) 2007 The Lantern via U-WIRE