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Statewide
Compiled by Lynn
Burke
10,000 More Students
Anticipated Statewide by Fall 2005
Enrollment at Virginia's 15 public four-year colleges and
universities and a two-year junior college is expected to increase 5.8 percent
from 177,009 to 187,310 by fall 2005, according to the State Council of Higher
Education for Virginia (SCHEV). Enrollment increases at George Mason and
Virginia Commonwealth University account for more than half the expected
increase. At the other end of the spectrum, William and Mary is projecting
a modest decline. SCHEV anticipates that most of the projected increase in
undergraduate students will comprise traditional students age 18 to 24, which
may have implications for the institutions. Because these students are more
likely to be full-time, on-campus, and residential, any increase in their
numbers will place greater demands on institutional resources.
State Now Requires
Higher Education Competency Assessments
The Virginia Pilot reported in July that Virginia's
public four-year colleges and universities will have to assess their students'
skills in six areas: writing, math, science, oral communication, critical
thinking, and technology. Assessments of all six areas will be required within
the next three years. Similar to the logic behind the Standards of Learning
(SOL) tests now required in Virginia's elementary and secondary schools,
the goal of the assessments to encourage quality education and ensure that
graduates have a reasonable level of competency in a range of disciplines
as well as a core body of knowledge, according to officials from the State
Council of Higher Education for Virginia. Unlike the SOL tests, however,
each college and university will decide when and how students will be tested,
subject to the council's approval, according to the paper. A degree is not
dependent on achieving certain scores.
SCHEV Acts to Reduce
Paperwork
The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV)
this past spring approved a report that advances the elimination or streamlining
of unnecessary reports and oversight requirements at Virginia colleges and
universities. The report eliminates 3 reporting requirements and streamlines
16 others of the 111 reports that institutions are required to submit to
SCHEV or other state agencies. A process for more clearly defining public
accountability expectations for institutions also is identified and recommended.
Finally, the report advocates further steps for decentralization and deregulation.
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