Our interview data suggest incumbent Republican political leaders
have high levels of satisfaction with the system in terms of efficiency
and choice. Most also believe the system is providing as much
access to traditional students as desirable. Democratic political
leaders are somewhat more likely to fault the system on access.
Political leaders from both parties are concerned about the quality
of undergraduate education and the amount of emphasis four-year
institutions place on research and graduate education. Part of
the reason that community colleges are more favorably viewed than
universities involves their single-minded concentration on teaching
undergraduates. At the same time, everyone seems proud of the
overall quality of the system, particularly as evidenced by the
elite private universities and the University of Illinois.
According to system participants, the Illinois system of higher
education gets high marks for efficiency improvements, largely
because of the PQP initiative. Perhaps the most compelling indicator
of satisfaction with this aspect of performance is full funding
of IBHE's budget requests for the past two years. The Governor
is said to have changed his attitude toward higher education based
on PQP. Among other political leaders, the perceptions are increasingly
that the system has been responsive to gubernatorial and legislative
concerns. A comprehensive university president told us PQP has
had an impact and that institutions are now forced to do more
with less. A faculty member noted the 108 programs eliminated
from public colleges and universities and suggested that the PQP
initiative is stimulating the same kind of productivity and accountability
improvements in the community college sector and among private
colleges and universities. IBHE publishes data on administrative
expenses and is given credit for trying to create a level playing
field among universities on these costs.
According to institutional representatives, the greatest discrepancy
between actual and desired performance is in the area of access,
particularly for underserved citizens. IBHE's efforts in this
arena were commonly and consistently criticized as "less than
adequate," especially by the presidents of urban, comprehensive
universities. We were told by one president that serving lower-income
people was not the priority of many people in public institutions,
and that while "the body politic is satisfied with the level of
access, Illinois colleges and universities are doing a lousy job
with regard to minority access and achievement." A community college
president pointed out the state's "dismal performance on minority
access" and argued there was little attention to work-force needs.
While access remains a public priority for IBHE, a former legislative
aide told us that access was difficult to think about from a state
perspective because policy-makers in power, including the Governor
and Legislature, are satisfied with the system's performance,
despite the fact that recent figures show that the access and
retention of underrepresented groups leaves much to be desired.
The attitudes of public officials appear to be shared by the general
public, at least to the extent that this view can be inferred
from our interviews with representatives of public media.
Evidence on the achievement of quality initiatives is mixed. Illinois
is widely regarded as a positive model for using private institutions
to foster choice, quality, and efficiency-despite the concerns
of comprehensive universities and community colleges about competition
for scarce resources. While IBHE is given credit for stimulating
the statewide discussion about priorities and for sharpening mission
statements, there is the sense that rhetoric often outpaces achievements
even for successful initiatives such as PQP.
An IBHE member complained about administrative roadblocks to timely
completion of degrees, adding, "There is a need to minimize loss
of student time and credit in higher education. Not enough effort
has been made to see that students take programs in sequence.
As a result, degree programs take too long. There is a need to
crack down on this and get tough." At an IBHE public meeting,
a staff member talked about the disappointing results of institutional
work on assessment of baccalaureate-level skills. Colleges and
universities were scheduled to report on objectives and progress
toward measuring the extent to which skills were being attained.
"After eight years," said the staff member, "little progress has
been made." A comprehensive university president who followed
the staff member to the podium talked about the difficulties of
assessing baccalaureate-level skills. The IBHE chair labeled his
response as an "unwillingness to be measured."
System participants associate both strengths and weaknesses with
IBHE processes. For a long time, IBHE and the institutions it
coordinates have had a good working relationship. The consensus-building
process, however glacial, has reduced the need for legislative
intervention. At the same time that many respondents described
articulation efforts as "too little and too late," IBHE is well
regarded for excellent staff work and high-quality analysis. Yet
one knowledgeable observer, while agreeing that IBHE was the source
of much information, described the overall effort as a "floating
collection of abstract information" that has not been linked to
policy. And while IBHE receives good marks for listening to faculty
through the advisory committee structure, there is also the sense
that the board is not able to take leadership in the discussion
of faculty roles and responsibilities because it represents too
many different kinds of institutions with too many different types
of faculty.
On balance, higher education in Illinois seems to be fulfilling the expectations of its constituents. Certainly, Illinois policy makers are pleased with their institutions and the arrangements they have developed for governing and coordinating them. A K-12 respondent marveled at how immune higher education has been to calls for reform. An aide to a policy official said, "School reform stopped at the college steps because of public satisfaction with higher education." On the horizon, however, are actors like the Lieutenant Governor who are skeptical of some higher education practices. Many of our respondents conclude that political and legislative involvement in higher education will increase in the future.
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