The recently released report of the Governor's Higher Education Task Force, chaired by former Governor Tom Kean, ties higher education to the state's future competitiveness and prosperity better than any other study since the 1990s. The Association strongly endorses the report, recognizing that certain issues surrounding graduate medical/nursing education deserve further study. The Association supports timely implementation of the recommendations and advocates the following principles in support of the report:
Higher education is critical to New Jersey's prosperity by:
| n | being a catalyst for business innovation and public-private collaboration |
| n | supplying the Garden State's workforce needs |
| n | expanding an educated populace to help ensure broad opportunity to improve the lives of its citizens |
Higher education's accountability and transparency can be enhanced through:
| n | autonomous trustee governance of institutions |
| n | a new state-level coordinating structure of a Secretary of Higher Education and Governor's Higher Education Council, replacing the current structure |
| n | enabling institutions to better control their costs, eliminating Trenton's regulatory red tape and ending the practice of unfunded mandates |
Higher education needs greater state investment in:
| n | facilities, from bond issues and from annual support, to preserve assets and expand capacity |
| n | operations, through rational appropriations and Challenge Grants, to meet statewide goals |
Affordability and accessibility can be protected through:
| n | targeting financial aid toward those most in need, such as expanding the Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) program |
| n | better designing merit aid to retain the state's best and brightest students and give such students choice among institutions. |
Academic quality can be improved by:
| n | challenging institutions to identify peer institutions, compare relevant metrics regarding mission, and publish the results |
| n | encouraging collaboration among institutions to meet New Jersey's needs |
Accountability for college costs can be increased by:
| n | giving state colleges and universities authority over labor contract negotiations |
| n | providing state colleges and universities relief from civil service regulations |
To access the report, go to: http://www.njascu.org/Higher_Education_Task_Force_Report.pdf