2008 Woodie Awards
Governor creates college system
Strickland to promote university cooperation with 10-year plan
Erica Flint
Issue date: 8/21/07 Section: Community
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Thanks to a plan announced by Ohio Governor Ted Strickland in early August, Ohio's 13 public universities and 24 community colleges will become part of a union known as The University System of Ohio.
This does not mean Ohio's schools will become carbon copies of one another, but instead will improve the quality and affordability of higher education in Ohio while allowing schools to fit into their own niche within the system.
"This is primarily a change in the way we think and talk about public higher education in Ohio, and the governor believes that by beginning to think about higher education in Ohio as a system, and recognizing that the sum total of the institutions working together in a more collaborative way has more potential of benefiting the life of Ohioans," said Keith Dailey, press secretary for Strickland.
Miami University President David Hodge was enthusiastic about the new system, but pointed out that it is to soon to know many concrete details.
"I believe this is an extremely positive step for Ohio." Hodge said via e-mail. "It seeks to create a more rational, collaborative, and complementary system."
This system was developed in part because of the increased funding for higher education that came as a result of the new state budget.
Eric Fingerhut, chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents, is the man in charge of The University System of Ohio, and he will have the task of coming up with a 10-year plan for higher education in Ohio.
"The governor asked the chancellor to begin referring to the collection of the state's schools as The University System of Ohio, but also to begin managing a system that promotes collaboration and cooperation instead of competition," Dailey said.
The 10-year plan will set benchmarks for each individual school and also look at new ways to distribute state money. These benchmarks will measure not only each school's improvement, but will also measure what each school contributes to the system as a whole.
State funding for the individual schools will then be determined in part by how well the school is meeting its benchmarks, instead of by enrollment numbers, which is how state funding has been determined in the past.
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