Next Steps
Though many elements of this plan are already being implemented, the release of the formal document begins a new phase in the process of transforming Ohio’s higher education landscape. The Chancellor and the Board of Regents staff will be dedicated full-time to the implementation of this plan. Several of the key next steps identified in this report deserve to be reiterated:
- The Chancellor will convene a funding consultation to develop recommended changes in the state subsidy for higher education that will support the outcome of the plan. The consultation, which will conclude its work by September 30, 2008, will involve a wide range of stakeholders.
- The Chancellor will, in consultation with the institutions, develop templates for the documents to be submitted by the institutions identifying Centers of Excellence, institution specific accountability measures, and good faith budget estimates.
- The Chancellor will make any organizational changes within his authority that are necessary to support the implementation of the plan, and will work with the General Assembly on elements of the plan that require legislative action.
- The Chancellor will lead a public effort to explain the main elements of the plan and to build support for its implementation.
- The Chancellor will begin a feasibility study leading to the creation of the University System of Ohio Foundation.
- The Board of Regents and the Business Alliance for Higher Education and the Economy will complete the survey of business satisfaction with higher education and begin implementing the compact between business and higher education.
No plan is perfect. Any plan can be slowed by changed circumstances, or improved by new opportunities that were not present when it was drafted. That is certainly true of this plan, which makes it, in a sense, a work in progress.
This plan is the result of hundreds of hours of consultation with students, faculty, administrators, legislators and business leaders throughout Ohio, and with higher education experts across the country. It was guided by a firm belief that higher education is the driver of Ohio’s future economic prosperity. Some of the strategies described here were apparent early in the process, others developed later, and still others represent compromises between what would be ideal and what is doable today.
Some of the strategies recommended here will likely cause controversy when implemented. That was certainly not a goal, though the potential for controversy was not allowed to be a disqualifying factor if the benefits appeared to outweigh the risks.
There is no “big bang”–the one big idea that will change everything. No such thing exists. The road to success, as it is usually is, is marked by hard work and focus, and a willingness to walk our own path. The process of putting this plan together made clear that Ohioans hunger for change, and that they appreciate the role of higher education in bringing that change about. This plan commits the state to a course of action that, with patience and dedication, will fulfill these expectations.
