Ohio University President M. Duane Nellis and Interim Executive Vice President and Provost Elizabeth Sayrs have announced the assembly of a Regional Higher Education (RHE) Study Committee.
The committee, which is composed of University faculty, staff and administrators from the Athens and Regional Campuses, has been charged with reviewing and evaluating OHIO’s regional campus higher education model through a combination of peer benchmarking and an analyzation of internal trend cycles.
The RHE Study Committee will provide a thorough assessment of OHIO’s existing regional higher education model within the context of the following areas:
- Organization and Administrative and Reporting Structures
- Academic Program Development and Delivery
- Faculty Relationship to Athens
- Financial Sustainability
- Student Services
The University has convened similar studies in past years, including a Task Force on the Future of Regional Campuses in 2008 and an Undergraduate and Regional Education Study Team in 2009.
President Nellis stated that the significant issues currently impacting regional higher education necessitate a new study – and a plan to chart an innovative course for the future of OHIO’s regional campuses.
“Over the last 70 years, Ohio University’s regional campuses have been at the heart of educational and social opportunities within their Southeastern Ohio communities, and they have provided valuable educational access to students unable to study in Athens,” said Ohio University President M. Duane Nellis. “However, within the last five years, a number of societal changes have made clear that our regional campuses cannot continue to operate under the assumptions that enabled them to thrive during their first 65 years of operation.”
President Nellis noted that there is no singular cause for the issues that OHIO’s regional campuses are facing; however, a combination of diminished subsidy from the State of Ohio, a reduced weighting of at-risk factors for subsidy calculations, tuition caps, shrinking high school graduating classes and an improved economy that has reduced the number of non-traditional students seeking an education have not only significantly reduced regional campus revenue streams, but affected their ability to offset the rising costs of health insurance and energy as well.
“We can expect these pressures to continue and to increase,” Interim Executive Vice President and Provost Elizabeth Sayrs said. “It is clear that high school graduating classes will continue to become smaller, the state’s emphasis on dual enrollment will affect transfer credit patterns, and the recent expansion of community colleges’ authority to offer baccalaureate degrees will provide additional choices for prospective students.”
President Nellis also stressed that, although regional higher education currently faces many pressures, there remains a great opportunity for OHIO to find ways to seamlessly bridge faculty and student connections on the Athens and regional campuses and to increase experiential learning via avenues of interconnectivity.
“Only by recognizing the challenges ahead and preparing to meet them will the regional campuses continue to be drivers of community educational, social and economic development,” President Nellis said.
The RHE Study Committee will begin their work soon. Their primary goal is to present recommendations for achieving a sustainable academics and resources model for OHIO’s regional campuses that aligns with the entire University and its OHIO for Ohio strategy by Nov. 1, 2018.