Yesterday, the Institute for Higher Education Leadership & Policy released a report titled “Consequences of Neglect: Performance Trends in California Higher Education.” The opening paragraph of the report’s executive summary reads:
California lawmakers have found it increasingly difficult to protect the state’s investment in its colleges and universities over the last decade despite the growing evidence that the state needs far more of its citizens to earn postsecondary credentials. Additionally, California higher education continues to operate without effective coordination and with no state-level planning, despite continued calls for the state to set goals and develop plans to ensure that its colleges and universities will drive 21st Century economic competitiveness and social well-being. This report demonstrates the consequences of resting on reputations and policies of yesteryear. California is nowhere near a leader on the measures of higher education performance that the nation’s governors and educational leaders have been tracking for over a decade. We are average, at best, and trending downward.
The report is available online at:
http://www.csus.edu/ihelp/pages/publications.html
The Los Angeles Times has an article about the report, available online at:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-college-decline-20110721,0,965810.story
Inside Higher Ed took notice as well. See:
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/07/21/qt