02/08/97

ATHENS, Ohio -- Robert Glidden told the Ohio University Board of Trustees during its meeting this weekend that he has joined other university executives and his fellow members of the Ohio Higher Education Funding Commission in an ongoing effort to encourage state legislators to increase the higher education budget allocation for the next biennium.

"We decided that it wasn't fair to our students, to our institutions and to the state of Ohio for us to accept a barely inflationary increment at a time when the state's economy is as strong as it has been," Glidden said.

"We're going to try as best we can to get the message across that investment in higher education is important to the future of Ohio," Glidden told trustees. "In the kind of age we are in now, higher skills and continuing education for people throughout their lives is critical not only to the economic future but to our cultural future, and to any other future you can imagine."

Glidden argued that the number of Ohio high school students seeking post-secondary education is well below the national average. "If you look at baccalaureate degrees alone," he said, "in Ohio we are about 20 percent below the national average. If we just followed the national average this year, 41,000 more students would be going on from high school to college in Ohio. We believe part of the reason for that is that tuition is high in Ohio and state support is low."

He reported that under the governor's proposed budget, Ohio University would receive a 4.7 percent increase in the first year of the biennium, and a 3.2 percent increase the following year. The current funding formula is based on enrollment. Glidden noted that because of continuing high numbers of applications to Ohio University and high retention rates, Ohio University is the only state-assisted university in recent years that has not required "buffering" -- additional state funding above the normal funding formula.

In other action Friday and Saturday, trustees:

* Heard a report from Vice President for Administration Gary North that applications for freshman admission for the 1997-98 academic year may exceed the previous record number of applications. North said the number of applications is likely to surpass the 12,000 mark. He also reported that the number of applications from prospective minority students has increased, as well as applications from transfers and out-of-state students. Admissions officials plan to target the freshman class size at 3,400, he said.

* Approved creation of the first graduate health policy certificate program in Ohio. The certificate program will be offered by the colleges of Health and Human Services and Arts and Sciences and administered by the Institute of the College of Health and Human Services. The program will be open to graduate students in any major, and to non-degree students who hold bachelor's degrees. The multi-disciplinary curriculum draws from economics, political science, business law and health science courses. "I believe this is exactly the sort of program this university should encourage," Provost Sharon S. Brehm told trustees. "I think the timeliness of this certificate program just couldn't be beat."

* Approved establishment of the Scripps Survey Research Center, which will link instruction and research across the five schools in the College of Communication and provide a needed laboratory for undergraduates and graduate students throughout the university. The center will bring together students and faculty whose share research interests in polling, public opinion and behavioral research.