ALBANY - A wide-ranging plan to make New York higher education among the best in the world and an engine for jobs gained some early support Monday by business and education reformers as well as the groups that would benefit from the massive spending plan.
“We need a system that rises above the average, that competes at the top national level,” said Kenneth Adams of the state Business Council. “We need a superior state system to regain the ground we've lost to other states.”
The report presented to Gov. Eliot Spitzer Monday by the state Commission on Higher Education calls for 2,000 more full-time faculty at the State University of New York and City University of New York, a $3 billion research fund, the recruitment of 250 top scholars over five years, several programs to make public and private college more affordable, and “educational partnership zones” in low-income neighborhoods in which colleges would help high schools prepare students for higher education.
Under its many proposals, SUNY and CUNY schools would be able to set their own tuition levels based on the demand for entrance and their needs. The commission also supports regular, predictable increases in tuition that supporters say help families and colleges plan better.
The commission also calls for cooperative ventures between public and private colleges. The report (http://www.ny.gov/governor/), doesn't say how billions of dollars should be raised to pay for the hiring and programs to develop research that translates into jobs and what Spitzer has called an “innovation economy.”
B. Jason Brooks of the Foundation for Education Reform & Accountability said the report focuses attention on the state's entire education system and shows a need to better prepare New Yorkers for college. He said the commission also included several accountability measures that should improve performance in colleges.
Several measures are aimed at providing more autonomy to SUNY campuses, especially the university research centers in Buffalo, Binghamton, Albany Stony Brook.
“What I see here is a promising architecture,” said Carl Hayden, the former schools
chancellor chosen this year by Spitzer to be chairman of the SUNY Board of Trustees. “It is an opportunity you can be sure we will seize.”
The recommendations will now go to Spitzer, who said he will include many of them in his state of the state speech and executive budget proposal in January. He said this “bold, comprehensive and necessary” plan differs from previous higher education initiatives by governors George Pataki and Mario Cuomo.
“There is both an economic and a societal imperative,” Spitzer said. “I think we are in a different stage than we were 15 or 20 years ago. We see the out-migration of jobs, and we are reacting.”
Assemblywoman Deborah Glick said her chamber will hold hearings on the recommendations before taking action.
She supported the call for more funds for SUNY and CUNY, but said she opposes the ideas of different tuition at different campuses and regular tuition increases.
The university worker unions and SUNY and CUNY officials supported the recommendations.
AP-ES-12-17-07 1756EST
On the Web
The commission report can be found online at http://www.ny.gov/governor
The report presented to Gov. Eliot Spitzer Monday by the state Commission on Higher Education calls for 2,000 more full-time faculty at the State University of New York and City University of New York, a $3 billion research fund, the recruitment of 250 top scholars over five years, several programs to make public and private college more affordable, and “educational partnership zones” in low-income neighborhoods in which colleges would help high schools prepare students for higher education.
Under its many proposals, SUNY and CUNY schools would be able to set their own tuition levels based on the demand for entrance and their needs. The commission also supports regular, predictable increases in tuition that supporters say help families and colleges plan better.
The commission also calls for cooperative ventures between public and private colleges. The report (http://www.ny.gov/governor/), doesn't say how billions of dollars should be raised to pay for the hiring and programs to develop research that translates into jobs and what Spitzer has called an “innovation economy.”
B. Jason Brooks of the Foundation for Education Reform & Accountability said the report focuses attention on the state's entire education system and shows a need to better prepare New Yorkers for college. He said the commission also included several accountability measures that should improve performance in colleges.
Several measures are aimed at providing more autonomy to SUNY campuses, especially the university research centers in Buffalo, Binghamton, Albany Stony Brook.
“What I see here is a promising architecture,” said Carl Hayden, the former schools
chancellor chosen this year by Spitzer to be chairman of the SUNY Board of Trustees. “It is an opportunity you can be sure we will seize.”
The recommendations will now go to Spitzer, who said he will include many of them in his state of the state speech and executive budget proposal in January. He said this “bold, comprehensive and necessary” plan differs from previous higher education initiatives by governors George Pataki and Mario Cuomo.
“There is both an economic and a societal imperative,” Spitzer said. “I think we are in a different stage than we were 15 or 20 years ago. We see the out-migration of jobs, and we are reacting.”
Assemblywoman Deborah Glick said her chamber will hold hearings on the recommendations before taking action.
She supported the call for more funds for SUNY and CUNY, but said she opposes the ideas of different tuition at different campuses and regular tuition increases.
The university worker unions and SUNY and CUNY officials supported the recommendations.
AP-ES-12-17-07 1756EST
On the Web
The commission report can be found online at http://www.ny.gov/governor
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