State may try to grow shared degrees
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Leaders of Pennsylvania's 14 state-owned universities want more of their students to enroll in collaborative degree programs that would rely on courses and instructors based on more than one campus.
A report being presented in Harrisburg Monday to the faculty union is expected to include recommendations for "shared programs" in foreign languages like French, German and Spanish and in physics, said State System of Higher Education officials, including Karen Ball, vice chancellor for external relations.
These pilot programs, potentially using software that enables distance learning, would involve degree programs that on individual campuses may be under-enrolled, officials said.
"The idea is not to have the student be campus-bound," Ms. Ball said Friday. "The focus is to have our students benefit from being part of a system.
"These students will get part of their program or a course offering from faculty that's on a campus that's not their [home] campus," she added.
The idea flows from a systemwide review of scores of undergraduate and graduate programs that have low enrollments on individual campuses.
During Monday's meeting, State System administrators are expected to outline which of these programs they plan to discontinue or impose an enrollment moratorium on, and which others will continue unchanged or with modifications.
Ms. Ball said she could not identify the programs or estimate how many are involved until leaders of the Association of Pennsylvania State College and University Faculties (APSCUF) are briefed.
The program review stretching back to last fall is being undertaken amid what some are calling the worst financial challenge in the history of the State System, whose 14 schools include California, Clarion, Edinboro, Indiana and Slippery Rock universities in Western Pennsylvania.
At least four universities have announced actual or possible work force cuts to deal with both waning state support amid the recession, and the anticipated loss starting in July 2011 of $38 million in federal stimulus aid that allowed the State System's 14 universities to offset cuts in their state appropriations.
The 14 schools, which collectively enroll 117,000 students, also are facing a major increase in their required contributions to the State Employees Retirement System.
Nevertheless, Ms. Ball said any cost savings that might be realized are secondary to a more over-arching objective: ensuring classroom quality and that the system's 1,260 undergraduate and graduate degree programs are relevant.
First Published June 12, 2010 12:00 am
