Reports from the Higher Learning Commission’s annual meeting emerged this week that indicated the Administration’s intent to continue the pressure initiated during the Bush Administration on colleges and universities to prove they provide a quality education at an accessible price.
The message from national higher education leaders who spoke at the meeting clearly communicated the Administration’s determination to hold colleges and universities accountable for performance or face undesirable consequences if institutions do not make meaningful changes on their own.
As Molly Corbett Broad, the president of the American Council on Education stated, “To the extent that federal policy makers are now willing to bail out banks and other financial institutions, and to take major equity positions in our auto makers, because those companies are too big to fail, then I believe it’s wise for us to assume they will have little reservation about regulating higher education now that they know it is too important to fail.”
So why all of this tough love? The Administration believes the vehicle by which to successfully educate more students to drive the economy is a college education. However, for this success to materialize the Administration believes their is room for improvement with regards to performance.
Actions that underlie this intention are not hard to find. In a brief scan of the higher education-related areas in which the Obama Administration has already delved, it is easy to recognize areas that historically would have been viewed as off-limits to federal action.
These include but are not limited to:
- A prescriptive guide to accreditation recently released by the Administration.
- A negotiation of proposed rules that define”credit hour” and other issues that impact academic quality.
Still many college leaders are left scratching their heads with regard to specifics about how to bring about innovation that might persuade critics that believe higher education can be more productive without lowering quality.
The fact is that higher education institutions may not have much time to ponder. As Broad stated at the meeting, “If we fail to act, it is likely that change will be imposed upon us, with potentially serious consequences for the governance structure that has allowed the United States to develop the best, most inclusive ‘higher education system in the world.”