The Ohio Board of Regents chancellor and four southeastern Ohio college presidents signed an agreement yesterday to work together to increase enrollment and bachelor's degrees earned in the region.
The Higher Education Consortium of Southern Ohio ' which includes Ohio University, Rio Grande Community College, Shawnee State University and Southern State Community College ' is designed to provide quality education within 30 miles of every southeastern Ohioan.
The agreement capped off Chancellor Eric Fingerhut's two-day visit to OU as part of his campus conversations tour
which has the chancellor discussing his 10-year Strategic Plan for Higher Education at colleges across the state. - Fingerhut said.
Rita Rice Morris, Shawnee State University president, said the coalition will develop a plan for the coalition within the next few months. It will discuss goals and possibly choose a leader.
In the immediate future, Fingerhut said the consortium would address problems such as where associate's and bachelor's degrees are offered, and in getting these degrees in the region. The availability of certain degrees isn't necessarily matched to where students currently are, he said.
One of the things we're particularly looking for is gaps in geography and programs Morris said.
The coalition will try to make it easier for students to transfer among any of the colleges involved.
This is part and parcel of what we are all about in southern Ohio
OU President Roderick McDavis said. We're looking for new ways for people in this state to pursue opportunities.
Fingerhut, who has stressed the need to establish nationally-recognized programs at each Ohio school, met with student journalists Wednesday to discuss OU's role in the University System of Ohio.
OU will review its graduate and undergraduate programs to identify what Fingerhut calls Centers of Excellence
or exemplary programs to mark for greater investment.
Fingerhut has asked every school in the University System of Ohio to identify outstanding programs in a document due by the year's end.
The goal is to find areas of focus for each college through uniform objective benchmarks to measure success.
In baseball
we accept BA and RBIs
Fingerhut said. What we do can be measured and compared to similar programs.
Fingerhut will help establish Centers of Excellence by framing specific questions, but the schools will decide how to measure these programs.
The University System of Ohio needs these areas of focus to make Ohio competitive in higher education, Fingerhut said.
I'm fond of saying whether or not these people come here will not be determined by the board of trustees or local chamber of commerce but by the market.
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