Page 223 - Crisis in Higher Education

194 • Crisis in Higher Education

9.5 FOCUSING ON OUTCOMES IN THE CONTEXT
OF INSTITUTIONAL MISSION

The key is to focus on outcome measures that are mission appropriate and pro-
vide guidelines with respect to the inputs and processes that might be helpful
to achieve these outcomes. This focus allows government regulatory bureaus
and accreditation agencies to understand the goals of the institution, recog-
nize problems, and seek additional information in order to resolve them. It is
critical that the outcomes are consistent with the institution’s strategic plan
because not every institution is striving for the same results in research and
instruction. For example, community and technical colleges have research
interests that are applied, whereas universities with graduate programs tend to
have larger and more diverse missions that are a mixture of basic and applied
research. Some public universities have high admission standard, whereas
others in the same state may accept anyone with a high school diploma.

9.6 DRIVING FORCES FOR CHANGE
Federal, state, and local governments with support, comment, and feedback
from students and their support group have the right, responsibility, and
authority to change subsidy polices and amounts. Altering subsidies can be
used as leverage to encourage institutions to reduce administrative cost, lower
tuition, make fees optional, and include textbooks and other learning materi-
als as part of tuition. This tactic can also be used to incentivize universities to
find ways to reduce time to complete a degree and increase the graduation rate.
Preparing a five-year plan would be an important tool to set universities on
course for better educational outcomes and lower costs. Accreditation agen-
cies and potential employers also have a role in achieving better outcomes.

9.7 IMPACT OF CHANGING THE GOVERNMENT’S
ROLE ON HIGHER EDUCATION OUTCOMES

As a third-party payer, governments have the right to expect better per-
formance from institutions of higher learning. Governments have con-
trol over a substantial portion of the revenue and can use it as leverage to