Forget Something?

The recent New York State Commission on Higher Education report contains a number of recommendations for making New York public colleges and universities globally competitive, and has some good ideas for improving connections with K-12 education and workforce development. But much of the report sounds like the arms race rhetoric common in higher education, and misses out on an important purpose of colleges and universities: educating undergraduates.

The report includes several ideas on ways to improve the research standing of certain NY state universities, including devoting more funds to support research, recruiting “top flight” faculty and graduate students, and enhancing entrance requirements (e.g. raising SAT scores) at these institutions. In fact, the 100-page report mentions “research” a total of 175 times.

“Learning” is mentioned 18 times, “Undergraduate” 11 times. And teaching? Twice.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t valuable recommendations in the report, and ones that benefit undergraduates. The proposal for a seamless transfer system—allowing students to move from one state university to another without risking losing credit hours—is particularly good. But the focus of the report is clearly on research and graduate-level studies.

While US News rankings - much of which are based on the research and "entrance requirements" the Commission seeks to enhance - are seen as the marker of success in much of higher education, the New York State Commission on Higher Education would have done well to eschew that rhetoric in favor of what will likely become an area of increasing concern—improving the quality of undergraduate education.