2005 West Virginia Code - §18B-1-1a. — Goals for post-secondary education.

§18B-1-1a. Goals for post-secondary education.
(a) Findings. -- The Legislature finds that post-secondary education is vital to the future of West Virginia. For the state to realize its considerable potential in the twenty-first century, it must have a system for the delivery of post-secondary education which is competitive in the changing national and global environment, is affordable within the fiscal constraints of the state and for the state's residents to participate and has the capacity to deliver the programs and services necessary to meet regional and statewide needs.
(1) West Virginia leads a national trend toward an aging population wherein a declining percentage of working-age adults will be expected to support a growing percentage of retirees. Public school enrollments statewide have declined and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future with a few notable exceptions in growing areas of the state. As the state works to expand and diversify its economy, it is vitally important that young people entering the workforce from our education systems have the knowledge and skills to succeed in the economy of the twenty-first century. It is equally important, however, that working-age adults who are the large majority of the current and potential workforce also possess the requisite knowledge and skills and the ability to continue learning throughout their lifetimes. The reality for West Virginia is that its future rests not only on how well its youth are educated, but also on how well it educates its entire population of any age.
(2) Post-secondary education is changing throughout the nation. Place-bound adults, employers and communities are demanding education and student services that are accessible at any time, at any place and at any pace. Institutions are seizing the opportunity to provide academic content and support services on a global scale by designing new courseware, increasing information technology-based delivery, increasing access to library and other information resources and developing new methods to assess student competency rather than "seat time" as the basis for recognizing learning, allocating resources and ensuring accountability. In this changing environment, the state must take into account the continuing decline in the public school-age population, the limits of its fiscal resources and the imperative need to serve the educational needs of working-age adults. West Virginia cannot afford to finance quality higher education systems that aspire to offer a full array of programs while competing among themselves for a dwindling pool of traditional applicants. The competitive position of the state and its institutions will depend fundamentally on its capacity to reinforce the quality and differentiation of its institutions through policies that encourage focus and collaboration.
(3) The accountability system in West Virginia must be well equipped to address cross-cutting issues such as regional economic and workforce development, community and technical college services, collaboration with the public schools to improve quality and student participation rates, access to graduate education and other broad issues of state interest. Severe fiscal constraints require West Virginia to make maximum use of existing assets to meet new demands. New investments must be targeted to those initiatives designed to enhance and reorient existing capacity, provide incentives for collaboration and focus on the new demands. It must have a single accountability point for developing, building consensus around and sustaining attention to the public policy agenda and for allocating resources consistent with this policy agenda.
(4) The state should make the best use of the expertise that private institutions of higher education can offer and recognize the importance of their contributions to the economic, social and cultural well-being of their communities.
(5) The system of public higher education should be open and accessible to all persons, including persons with disabilities and other persons with special needs.
(b) Compact with higher education. -- In pursuance of these findings, it is the intent of the Legislature to engage higher education in a statewide compact for the future of West Virginia, as provided in article one-a of this chapter, that focuses on a public policy agenda that includes, but is not limited to, the following:
(1) Diversifying and expanding the economy of the state;
(2) Increasing the competitiveness of the state's workforce and the availability of professional expertise by increasing the number of college degrees produced to the level of the national average and significantly improving the level of adult functional literacy; and
(3) Creating a system of higher education that is equipped to succeed at producing these results.
(c) Elements of the compact with higher education. -- It is the intent of the Legislature that the compact with higher education include the following elements:
(1) A step-by-step process, as provided in articles one-b and three-c of this chapter, which will enable the state to achieve its public policy agenda through a system of higher education equipped to assist in producing the needed results. This process includes, but is not limited to, separate institutional compacts with state institutions of higher education that describe changes in institutional missions in the areas of research, graduate education, admission standards, community and technical college education and geographical areas of responsibility to accomplish the following:
(A) A capacity within higher education to conduct research to enhance West Virginia in the eyes of the larger economic and educational community and to provide a basis for West Virginia's improved capacity to compete in the new economy through research oriented to state needs;
(B) Access to stable and continuing graduate-level programs in every region of the state, particularly in teacher education related to teaching within a subject area to improve teacher quality;
(C) Universities, colleges and community and technical colleges that have focused missions, individual points of distinction and quality and strong links with the educational, economic and social revitalization of their regions and the state of West Virginia;
(D) Greater access and capacity to deliver technical education, workforce development and other higher education services to place-bound adults, thus improving the general levels of post-secondary educational attainment and literacy;
(E) Independently accredited community and technical colleges in every region of the state that:
(i) Assess regional needs;
(ii) Ensure access to comprehensive community and technical college and workforce development services within each of their respective regions;
(iii) Convene and serve as a catalyst for local action in collaboration with regional leaders, employers and other educational institutions;
(iv) Provide and, as necessary, broker educational services;
(v) Provide necessary student services;
(vi) Fulfill such other aspects of the community and technical college mission and general provisions for community and technical colleges as provided for in article three-c of this chapter; and
(vii) Maximize use of existing infrastructure and resources within their regions to increase access, including, but not limited to, vocational technical centers, schools, libraries, industrial parks and work sites.
(2) Providing additional resources, subject to availability and appropriation by the Legislature as provided in article one-a of this chapter, to make the state institutions of higher education more competitive with their peers, to assist them in accomplishing the elements of the public policy agenda and to ensure the continuity of academic programs and services to students.
(3) Establishing a process for the allocation of additional resources which focuses on achieving the elements of the public policy agenda and streamlines accountability for the step-by-step progress toward achieving these elements within a reasonable time frame as provided in article one-a of this chapter.
(4) Providing additional flexibility to the state institutions of higher education by making permanent the exceptions granted to higher education relating to travel rules and vehicles pursuant to sections forty-eight through fifty-three, inclusive, article three, chapter five-a of this code and section eleven, article three, chapter twelve of this code.
(5) Revising the higher education governance structure to make it more responsive to state and regional needs.
(d) General goals for post-secondary education. -- In pursuance of the findings and the development of institutional compacts with higher education for the future of West Virginia pursuant to article one-a of this chapter, it is the intent of the Legislature to establish general goals for post-secondary education and to have the commission and council report the progress toward achieving these goals in the higher education report card required pursuant to section eight, article one-b of this chapter and, where applicable, have the goals made a part of the institutional compacts. The Legislature establishes the general goals as follows:
(1) The overall focus of education is on a lifelong process which is to be as seamless as possible at all levels and is to encourage citizens of all ages to increase their knowledge and skills. Efforts in pursuit of this goal include, but are not limited to, the following:
(A) Collaboration, coordination and interaction between public and post-secondary education to:
(i) Improve the quality of public education, particularly with respect to ensuring that the needs of public schools for teachers and administrators are met;
(ii) Inform public school students, their parents and teachers of the academic preparation that students need to be prepared adequately to succeed in their selected fields of study and career plans, including academic career fairs; and
(iii) Improve instructional programs in the public schools so that the students enrolling in post-secondary education are adequately prepared;
(B) Collaboration, coordination and interaction among public and post-secondary education, the governor's council on literacy and the governor's workforce investment office to promote the effective and efficient utilization of workforce investment and other funds to:
(i) Provide to individuals and employers greatly improved access to information and services on education and training programs, financial assistance, labor markets and job placement;
(ii) Increase awareness among the state's citizens of the opportunities available to them to improve their basic literacy, workforce and post-secondary skills and credentials; and
(iii) Improve citizens' motivation to take advantage of available opportunities by making the system more seamless and user friendly;
(C) Collaboration, coordination and interaction between public and post-secondary education on the development of seamless curriculum in technical preparation programs of study between the secondary and post-secondary levels; and
(D) Opportunities for advanced high school students to obtain college credit prior to high school graduation.
(2) The number of degrees produced per capita by West Virginia institutions of higher education is at the national average. Efforts in pursuit of this goal include, but are not limited to, the following:
(A) Collaboration, coordination and interaction between public and post-secondary education, the governor's council on literacy and the governor's workforce investment office to promote to individuals of all ages the benefits of increased post-secondary educational attainment;
(B) Assistance in overcoming the financial barriers to post-secondary education for both traditional and nontraditional students;
(C) An environment within post-secondary education that is student-friendly and that encourages and assists students in the completion of degree requirements within a reasonable time frame. The environment also should expand participation for the increasingly diverse student population;
(D) A spirit of entrepreneurship and flexibility within post-secondary education that is responsive to the needs of the current workforce and other nontraditional students for upgrading and retraining college-level skills; and
(E) The expanded use of technology for instructional delivery and distance learning.
(3) All West Virginians, whether traditional or nontraditional students, displaced workers or those currently employed, have access to post-secondary educational opportunities through their community and technical colleges, colleges and universities which: (A) Are relevant and affordable;
(B) Allow them to gain transferrable credits and associate or higher level degrees;
(C) Provide quality technical education and skill training; and
(D) Are responsive to business, industry, labor and community needs.
(4) State institutions of higher education prepare students to practice good citizenship and to compete in a global economy in which good jobs require an advanced level of education and skill which far surpasses former requirements. Efforts in pursuit of this goal include, but are not limited to, the following:
(A) The development of entrepreneurial skills through programs such as the rural entrepreneurship through action learning (REAL) program, which include practical experience in market analysis, business plan development and operations;
(B) Elements of citizenship development are included across the curriculum in core areas, including practical applications such as community service, civic involvement and participation in charitable organizations and in the many opportunities for the responsible exercise of citizenship that higher education institutions provide;
(C) Students are provided opportunities for internships, externships, work study and other methods to increase their knowledge and skills through practical application in a work environment;
(D) College graduates meet or exceed national and international standards for skill levels in reading, oral and written communications, mathematics, critical thinking, science and technology, research and human relations;
(E) College graduates meet or exceed national and international standards for performance in their fields through national accreditation of programs and through outcomes assessment of graduates; and
(F) Admission and exit standards for students, professional staff development, program assessment and evaluation and other incentives are used to improve teaching and learning.
(5) State institutions of higher education exceed peer institutions in other states in measures of institutional productivity and administrative efficiency. Efforts in pursuit of this goal include, but are not limited to:
(A) The establishment of systematic ongoing mechanisms for each state institution of higher education to set goals, to measure the extent to which those goals are met and to use the results of quantitative evaluation processes to improve institutional effectiveness;
(B) The combination and use of resources, technology and faculty to their maximum potential in a way that makes West Virginia higher education more productive than its peer institutions in other states while maintaining educational quality; and
(C) The use of systemic program review to determine how much duplication is necessary to maintain geographic access and to eliminate unnecessary duplication.
(6) Post-secondary education enhances state efforts to diversify and expand the economy of the state. Efforts in pursuit of this goal include, but are not limited to, the following:
(A) The focus of resources on programs and courses which offer the greatest opportunities for students and the greatest opportunity for job creation and retention in the state;
(B) The focus of resources on programs supportive of West Virginia employment opportunities and the emerging high-technology industries;
(C) Closer linkages among higher education and business, labor, government and community and economic development organizations; and
(D) Clarification of institutional missions and shifting of resources to programs which meet the current and future workforce needs of the state.
(7) Faculty and administrators are compensated at a level competitive with peer institutions to attract and keep quality personnel at state institutions of higher education.
(8) The tuition and fee levels for in-state students are competitive with those of peer institutions and the tuition and fee levels for out-of-state students are set at a level which at least covers the full cost of instruction.