Mission: Creation of an Integrated Network of Strategically Focused, High Performance Campuses, Each Achieving Excellence in its Own Mission.

Objective: Improve Student Access and Increase Graduation Rates.

• Access Challenge, enacted in House Bill 215, will help more Ohioans enroll in college by making tuition more affordable at access campuses. Campuses must use 50 percent of the funds to restrain tuition and fees.

• Success Challenge, enacted in House Bill 215, will promote degree completion of "at-risk" students whose chances of succeeding in college are lessened by their cultural, geographical, socioeconomic or academic background.

• Budgetary support continues to increase for the 14 programs that comprise the Board of Regents' financial aid commitment to provide financial aid to full-time and part-time students based on criteria ranging from economic need to academic achievement.

• Budgetary support continues to assist campuses in providing child care facilities for students, as well as staff and faculty, enabling both traditional and non-traditional students to participate in higher education.

• The Regents' initiative on articulation and transfer agreements between two-year colleges and four-year universities is being expanded and implemented on a statewide basis. A computer-based enrollment and transfer information system is being expanded to include more public and independent colleges and universities.

• The Student Support subsidy provides supplemental support to campuses that have disproportionate costs in providing instructional and related services to students with disabilities.

Objective: Improve the Quality of the Learning Experience.

• The Technology Challenge, enacted in House Bill 215, promotes instructional advances through the development and application of information technology, including infrastructure improvements, professional development of faculty and staff, and the research and design of new instructional materials.

• The Board has awarded $10 million in competitive technology grants from capital funds to support the development and implementation of learning technology.

• The Board continues to emphasize the importance of improving the quality of graduate/professional education,
  • Restructured programs are in the final phase of review for those graduate programs which were identified during the doctoral review process as lacking focus and not providing a quality learning experience.

  • The 3 year viability reviews are beginning for several graduate/professional programs as called for in the Board's review of doctoral programs.

  • The Priorities in Graduate Education program, enacted in House Bill 215, provides state investment in areas of doctoral education where Ohio is under invested. Under this program, the Board is proceeding with its initiatives to strengthen graduate education in Computer Science.

  • The Board is proceeding with its initiatives to strengthen the quality of graduate education in the Life Sciences.

Objective: Assist K-12 in Preparing Students for Career and College Readiness.

• The Secondary and Higher Education Remediation Advisory Committee, empaneled by the Board and the Ohio Department of Education, has completed its analysis and made recommendations on collaborative efforts by higher education and K-12 to deal with the remediation of high-school graduates,
  • A Joint Commission, comprised of three Regents and three Board of Education members, has been formed to discuss the recommendations of the Remediation Advisory Committee and consider strategies for their implementation.

  • College and university placement procedures in English have been evaluated to determine their relative comparability between campuses.

  • The Early English Composition Assessment Program has been expanded to include innovative intervention strategies targeted to "at risk" high school students who will need remediation in writing at the collegiate level.

  • The Early Mathematics Placement Testing Program is being expanded to include the professional development of high school mathematics teachers.

  • Conversations are under way between the Board of Regents, the Ohio Department of Education and the Joint Council to assure that the newly revised high school proficiency tests create a common set of expectations for basic skill competencies needed for entry into college.

Objective: Contribute to State Economic Development.

• The instructional subsidy for graduate education is being reconsidered by a Graduate Funding Commission. One possible outcome is the tieing of subsidy more directly to the needs of the State.

• The Board funded a study on economic development by Professor Fogarty of Case Western Reserve University.

• In October, 1997, members of the Board visited North Carolina to learn more about the role of higher education in contributing to the economic development programs in the State.

• The Board continues to emphasize workforce development initiatives,
  • The Jobs Challenge program, enacted in House Bill 215, is designed to improve Ohio's economic competitiveness by building a more skilled labor force. Campuses receive support for non- credit, job-related training programs.

  • Through Tech Prep initiatives, local partnerships are being created to reshape the way high school and Associate Degree students are preparing for technical careers.

  • Through the Job Prep Program, enacted in House Bill 408, two- year campuses are receiving funds to develop services to assist public assistance recipients find and retain employment.

  • With funding from the Productivity Improvement Challenge two- year campuses are expanding their capacity to meet the employee development needs of Ohio employers.

  • Through Ohio's School to Work Initiative, higher education is involved in a variety of projects to better prepare students for lifelong learning and career success.

Objective: Deliver the Greatest Benefit from Resources; Improve Productivity and Efficiency and Develop Collaborative Partnerships.

• The Higher Education Efficiency program, enacted in House Bill 215, is designed to encourage operational efficiency through a competitive grants process. Four-year and two-year campuses with the highest rated plans will receive $500,000 each and campuses with the second and third-ranked plans will receive $250,000 each.

• The Action and Investment Fund, which provides capital funds to universities to assist them in enhancing their research infrastructure, has been restructured to require collaborative proposals from the universities.

• The Medical line items in the budget have been restructured to make this subsidy line item more performance based.

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Last updated May 22, 1998