Chancellor Biddy Martin held the second of three forums on the Badger Partnership Tuesday to further inform the UW-Madison community of the proposed business model.
Martin said it is important for the university to remain competitive not only on a national level, but internationally as well.
According to Martin, the New Badger Partnership would provide more flexibility with income so UW-Madison can stay competitive by attracting the best students and faculty.
""How can we keep the best faculty or track the best faculty at UW Madison when we are not allowed to increase their pay even for merit, unless all other state agencies are increasing pay?"" Martin said. ""How can we attract students if we can't use flexibly the tuition money we get to cover things like financial aid?""
Martin said the university needs more autonomy to make decisions independent of the state because of the decrease in the state's support for higher education over the last few decades.
""The business model that has supported higher education in this country for a very long time no longer works in the way that it once worked or it was intended to work,"" Martin said. ""What used to be primary source of funding for our operating budget, was in this case the state of Wisconsin, that source of funding has gone down overtime relative to the costs of higher education.""
Martin shared her hopes for what students in 2015 would experience if the Badger Partnership was implemented.
""For students, we would have more classes so more students would be graduating in four years, better education, more innovative curriculum, more innovative pedagogical methods, more combination of online and in class learning, more financial aid by a lot, better experiences over all,"" Martin said.
The next discussion will be held Wednesday at 2 p.m., in the Friends of the Waisman Auditorium at the Waisman Center, 1500 Highland Ave.
