The UW System Board of Regents met Thursday to hone in on workforce demands statewide, as well as to hear a report detailing enrollment and tuition trends across the system.
Talent Development Initiative
The state of Wisconsin is looking toward universities and colleges across the state to help build up the economy, as discussed among Board of Regents members Thursday.
Regents and various members of the UW System met in Madison to address a plan entitled, “The Talent Development Initiative,” which aims to better tailor students’ education for a future in the Wisconsin workforce.
“We produce the people whose incomes are going up, who are necessarily the leaders who are going to create jobs, come up with new ideas, and lead the businesses that are going to be successful in this country in the future,” said UW-Madison Chancellor Rebecca Blank. “That’s the main argument for what we do and why we’re so important.”
The Board of Regents first proposed the Talent Development Initiative at its meeting in August.
The plan aims to focus the board’s resources into three different spots across the UW System: the talent path, the talent infrastructure and the talent-based economy.
The Department of Workforce Development predicts that jobs in the healthcare, education, computer analysis, accounting, marketing and managerial professions to increase over the next 10 years. This pushes the need for higher education degrees, which is where the UW System comes into play.
As Wisconsin’s population increases in age, the workforce becomes smaller, worsening the state’s economy. As one of the state’s largest pools of human potential, the UW System keys in on the part its universities and colleges play.
“We are part of the solution,” UW System President Ray Cross said. “[The UW System must] take the lead with our partners in the legislature and the private sector to do what is necessary to fully implement the Talent Development Initiative and address the challenges.”
Accountability Report
The UW System has published an annual accountability report every year since 1993 in order to demonstrate the governing body’s commitment to Wisconsin citizens. Every report consists of data and statistical analyses covering a number of topics, such as enrollment rates, tuition affordability and campus diversity.
Wisconsin was the first university system to mandate an accountability report in the nation, according to the Board of Regents agenda.
Interim Senior Vice President David Ward, who presented the report, said overall enrollment and transfer student enrollment throughout the system both increased since 2003, especially transfers from technical schools. Second year retention rates also remained above the national average.
Also, a majority of Wisconsin residents who graduated from UW System schools chose to remain in Wisconsin after earning their degree, according to the report, while the vast majority of out-of-state graduates moved out of Wisconsin.
The board expressed concern over the decreasing rate of graduates who had studied abroad, which they attributed to increasing costs and a lack of programs for students to earn credits while overseas.
Ward concluded the report by listing several improvements the board should consider, including increasing enrollment and graduation rates of low-income and minority students.
In addition to an entire system report, UW-Madison Challencor Rebecca Blank is also required to prepare a separate accountability report just for UW-Madison, as determined by the 2011-’13 UW System biennial budget.
UW-Madison Provost Sarah Mangelsdorf presented this report to the board, pointing out that UW-Madison tuition was still below average among of Big Ten schools.
Mangelsdorf went on to describe an increase in the availability of classes for freshmen and seniors within their major fields. The three most popular majors, as found in the report, were engineering, business and biology.
The board of regents finished the discussion by contemplating a new, interactive dashboard format for future accountability reports that would make the data easier to analyze and interpret.
