Presentation toLouisiana Commission on Higher Education

byWilliam E. Kirwan

Chancellor, University System of Maryland

A Double Barreled National Crisis

• The United States is losing its status as the world leader in the educational attainment of its citizenry • We now rank 23rd in high school completion rates• We rank 10th in postsecondary completion rates• We have the highest college dropout rate of any industrialized nation• Currently, only about 39 percent of the 25-to-34 year-old cohort has a

postsecondary degree• We’re the only industrialized nation with a declining college completion

rate• The United States is in the worst recession since the Depression

• Most states facing huge structural deficits• Higher education has been severely impacted• Ability to address educational “deficit” at great risk

•

A Dual Responsibility

• Higher education must• Reengineer it academic and administrative states to

contain costs

• Through new course delivery strategies and partnerships, find ways to reach more students in a cost effective manner

• State Government must• Reward universities for finding efficiencies

• Enact policies that promote inter-institution and P-20 collaboration to achieve greater access and success rates

The Maryland Experience

• The Board of Regents driven E&E initiative (Phase I)• Studied every major academic and administrative

process• Established Goal: Contain costs, protect quality,

promote access and affordability• Reengineered administrative and academic

operations• Centralized “back office” including purchasing;

place limits on credits for a degree; increased average faculty contact hours

The Maryland Experience

• The results since FY 2006

• New compact with the state• More than $70 million in base budget “efficiencies over the

past four years• No instate tuition increase for 4 years• 15K more students served• Time to degree averages 4.5 years, lowest in USM’s history• 32% increase in state support to support, access,

completion, workforce development, economic growth

The Maryland Experience

• E&E Phase II• Curriculum redesign (National Center for Academic

Transformation)

• Community College Partnerships

• Regional Center

• Pre-K through 20 Council• College ready alignment

• STEM Teacher initiative

Final Thoughts

• We are all focused on the nation’s enormous fiscal challenges• Vast sums of money will be invested to get the economy moving• These investments will not matter if we do not address the

enormous educational deficit we are building in the United States. • We have to start now if we hope to recapture our

educational leadership . . .the only currency that really matters in the long run

• Our choices are clear:• Continue on our current path, which would lead to only 29 percent

of our young adults having a college degree; OR• Follow the call to recapture our global education and economic

leadership