GREENVILLE � Enrollment across the University of North Carolina could reach 300,000 by 2017, according to projections presented during a Thursday policy meeting.
The projections also point to a growing number of Hispanic students from North Carolina who will seek higher education. UNC leaders say if that occurs, a number of campuses will not have a majority of one race or ethnic group.
GREENVILLE – University of North Carolina leaders announced Friday the members of a “blue ribbon” panel that will examine the system’s future and how it can meet the needs of the state.
The initiative, UNC Tomorrow, was launched at last month’s Board of Governors meeting with Norma Mills, former Chief of Staff for Senate Pro Tem Marc Basnight, serving as the executive director for the study. The entire process is scheduled to take 18 months, with a report to be presented early next year.
House members approved this week a bill that outlines the procedures for nominating members to the UNC Board of Governors.
The bill sets specific deadlines for when nominations can occur, as well as when a vote must take place. Many of these procedures were missing in previous administrations and the publication of the rules brings transparency to the nomination process that has been missing in years past.
House members must approve eight members to fill their portion of the 16 open seats on the Board of Governors. These terms would begin on July 1.
RALEIGH – The heads of the University of North Carolina, the North Carolina Community Colleges, and the organization of independent colleges all appealed for money at a legislative committee hearing Tuesday.
Hope Williams, president of the North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities, asked that the governor’s new EARN scholarship program apply to students in private schools as well as public. She made the request during a joint meeting of the House and Senate Appropriations Subcommittees on Education. UNC President Erskine Bowles and Community College System President Martin Lancaster also discussed the budget recommendations made by Gov. Mike Easley last month.
Business and political leaders from Rocky Mount and eastern North Carolina have championed the idea of transforming North Carolina Wesleyan College into a public institution within the UNC system. A study commission authorized by the legislature is wrapping up its findings, and supporters are already referring to the school as “UNC-Rocky Mount.”
Their argument is that a public institution would spur economic development in Rocky Mount and eastern North Carolina and give more students access to higher education. Before the state commits to spending a substantial amount of money making a private college, affiliated with the United Methodist Church, into the 17th state-supported campus, the costs and benefits need to be carefully examined.
RALEIGH – A week after Gov. Mike Easley released his record-setting $20 billion budget, legislators were at work dissecting the proposal.
Members of Easley’s budget team were in the General Assembly Tuesday and Wednesday providing legislators details of the proposals included in the budget for the 2007-09 biennium. With Easley’s budget being released last Thursday, it was difficult for appropriations meeting to start until now, because members typically leave Raleigh following Thursday’s sessions.
Easley’s budget, as has been the case throughout his administration, calls for increases in the spending on education, which comprises 58 percent of the governor’s budget. The University of North Carolina would receive an appropriation of $2.7 billion, an 11.3 percent increase from the 2006-07 appropriations. The percent increase far outpaces those of other branches of governments.
RALEIGH – Gov. Mike Easley on Thursday released his $20 billion budget recommendation to the General Assembly, which calls for a new $150 million scholarship grant as well as a special bond election for university projects.
The budget also increases spending on on-line education programs offered through the University of North Carolina and the North Carolina Community College System.
Easley presented his budget at a press conference in Raleigh. Officials from his administration will meet with legislators Tuesday morning to discuss further details of his budget proposal.
Although the recent “Emerging Issues” conference at North Carolina State University missed the boat on the big issues, there were a few bright spots that education leaders ought to know about.
While many speakers contended that American higher education is “underperforming” because some other countries graduate more people from college, a few recognized that our educational problems begin long before college. Chancellor Charlie Reed of the California State University system, for example, focused on the need to improve the quality of students entering higher education. Reed said that many students are not taking the right courses and are often unprepared for college when they arrive on campus. Others never get to college at all because they don’t get “on track.”
Part of the problem, Reed argued, is that many students, parents, and even teachers are unaware of what students need if they are to enter college. Especially among poorer families in California, students can kill their chances of going to college before they’re even in high school.
House committee assignments were handed out this week, completing the committee assignment process for the General Assembly. Senate committee assignments were announced last week.
Four committees (including subcommittees) will take up higher education issues during the 2007-08 legislative session in the state House. That also includes a committee charged with nominating members to the UNC Board of Governors.
In 2005, the selection process was
clouded in controversy when legislators failed to follow General Statutes that outline the nomination and voting procedures. General Statute 116-6, which lists the BOG election procedures, states “If a sufficient number of nominees who are legally qualified are submitted, then the slate of candidates shall list at least twice the number of candidates for the total seats open.” It also says that nominees are to be approved 30 days after legislative appointments are completed. Legislators followed neither provision in 2005, leaving some to vocally criticize the vote.
RALEIGH – State Senators A.B. Swindell and Julia Boseman will be among the key legislators that will push higher education policy and funding through the North Carolina Senate during the 2007-08 legislative session.
Both were named to key leadership posts on committees that have oversight of higher education spending and policy in the state Senate. Committee assignments for state senators were announced Thursday. The state House has not made committee assignments.
Swindell and Boseman, both Democrats, will chair the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Education and Higher Education as well as the Senate Education/Higher Education Committee. Swindell is the senior chairman.
Republican Richard Stevens, of Wake County, will serve as the ranking Republican co-chairman on both committees.