"Master Plan 2000," a draft plan that would chart the course of Utah's higher education system, is the product of two years of hard work by the Utah State Board of Regents.
The plan envisions tougher admission standards at the University of Utah and Utah State University and possibly Southern Utah University, and it would substantially revamp how the state's nine colleges and universities are funded. Funding currently is tied to enrollment.At first blush, the plan appears to be well-conceived. It is student-focused and should better define the missions of each of the nine institutions. If the plan is adopted, care must be taken to ensure that the rest of the system has sufficient capacity to absorb students who would be squeezed out of state universities that impose higher entrance requirements.
One long-term goal in the master plan is to develop new community colleges in Box Elder and Tooele counties, southern Utah County, Moab, the Uintah Basin and the Wasatch-Summit area within the next decade. This proposal has particular merit because growth in the higher education system has occurred largely in the community college segment, which is driven both by these schools' open-door policies and the evolving training needs of employers.
The regents are also proposing an Internet advising system that would enable students to review placement rates of students from particular fields of study and companies that recruit from those disciplines. Such a program could help reduce the number of false-starts in many students' academic careers as they change majors several times , trying to second-guess their marketability at graduation. It also would give students a "real world" view of their prospects.
That said, students should not look at their diplomas solely as tickets to a job. College should be a time of exploration, personal growth and enrichment. A diploma should represent a well-rounded educational experience as well as demonstrated mastery of the prescribed curricula. Capping enrollment at the state's largest universities should help preserve that focus.
Like any planning document, the challenge will be to breathe life into the higher education proposal. That will hinge greatly on the Legislature's receptiveness to the regents' updated mission statement and new master plan. There doesn't appear outwardly to be much room for dispute. It's hard to argue against a movement to raise standards, bolster accountability and redesign funding mechanisms.
Just as the regents made students the focal point of the debate, so should lawmakers. The vision of this document should not be clouded by petty, short-term, political concerns. Utah college students deserve better than that.