In July the National Governors Association (NGA) met to dialogue on a variety of issues facing states, including the role of higher education in global competitiveness.

A key part of the conversation with regard to higher education focused on a report introduced by Governor Gregoire, as part of her NGA Chair’s initiative Complete to Compete,  that focuses on restructuring state higher education accountability systems. The report, From Information to Action: Revamping Higher Education Accountability Systems, makes the case that states should include efficiency and effectiveness metrics in their accountability systems to help answer for key policy questions.

• What extent are public higher education institutions meeting the state’s need for an educated workforce and supporting progress toward longer term economic goals?
• How many students at public institutions are graduating relative to total enrollment?
• What is the return on states’ and students’ investment in public institutions in terms of completed certificates and degrees?
• How can public institutions demonstrate that efficiency gains are being achieved without sacrificing student learning?

The report goes on to suggest that several policy options are available to make better use of accountability measures, including bugeting, funding, and regulation.