Oregon University System (OUS), along with eight other state university systems, was chosen to participate last Monday in a privately funded national initiative to improve undergraduate student learning.
The Quality Collaboratives Initiative, sponsored by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U)@@http://www.aacu.org/@@ and funded by the Lumina Foundation for Education,@@http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=50112&Image=@@ will provide $40,000 in funding for Oregon to support faculty and staff working to enhance the standard of undergraduate education. As a result of the grant, senior staff and faculty from each of Oregon’s seven state universities will be able to hold a series of meetings aimed at forming new policies to enhance student learning and to strengthen the value of a degree from an Oregon university.
“We are thankful for the support of the Lumina Foundation and the AAC&U to help ensure that our college students graduate with a strong core of skills and competencies that will help them in the workforce and in their lives,” OUS Vice Chancellor for Academic Strategies Sona Andrews said.@@http://www.ous.edu/about/andrewsbio@@
The Lumina Foundation is an Indianapolis-based private foundation@@http://www.luminafoundation.org/about_us/@@ whose mission is to enroll and graduate more students from college, especially low-income, first generation and multicultural students. Their goal is to increase the percentage of Americans who hold high-quality degrees and credentials to 60 percent by 2025. Other states chosen to participate include California, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Utah, Wisconsin and Virginia.
“It is exciting that so many states and campuses are eager to explore and develop measures of achievement for all students,” AAC&U vice president and QC project director Terry Rhodes said. “It is recognized in higher education, and echoed by employers, that it isn’t enough to simply earn a degree, but essential that the quality of learning and level of competence also be an integral part of determining degree attainment.”
The Quality Collaboratives Initiative is a three-year plan as part of the AAC&U’s ongoing Liberal Education and America’s Promise (LEAP) initiative@@http://www.aacu.org/leap/@@, and will serve as testing to help Lumina determine the value of a Degree Qualifications Profile (DQP).@@http://www.luminafoundation.org/publications/special_reports/degree_profile/@@ The DQP proposes a set of reference points that benchmark what it should take for students to earn a degree at each of the three levels: bachelors, masters and doctorate. The DQP is loosely based upon the European model of education,@@http://tinyurl.com/3kgxlfc@@ and is comprised of five facets: broad and specialized knowledge, intellectual skills, applied learning and civic learning.
“We must ensure that all students—including those from traditionally underrepresented groups and those who begin at a two-year institution and transfer to a four-year institution—achieve the most important outcomes of a college education,” AAC&U President Carol Gear Schneider said.
Community colleges across the state of Oregon will also be included in the new initiative as well as heading up their own Lumina-funded grant for a similar initiative to improve standards of learning for community colleges.
The new plan will advance Oregon’s higher education institutions to meet the 40-40-20 educational achievement goals (Oregon senate bill 253).@@http://www.oregonbusinessplan.org/Connect/Latest-News-and-Blog/PostID/34.aspx@@ This means Oregon’s goal for the year 2025 is to reach 40 percent of the population with either an associates degree or training certification, 40 percent with a bachelor’s degree or higher, and only 20 percent with no post-secondary training at all.
“We want to ensure the quality of the student’s education, and to make sure that OUS graduates are prepared for their careers and are prepared to be competitive,” Andrews said.