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It was only the previous Monday when the Utah System of Higher Education was elected to join hands with twelve other higher education systems throughout the nation. The intention was to look for wise solutions dedicated towards at-risk student populations. Being organized by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the multi-state collaboration comes with a $200,000 grant since state education officials constantly work to enhance access as well as anticipate outcomes from Utah’s colleges and universities.
Utah’s innovative ability exposed
The Commissioner of Utah System of Higher Education, David Buhler, said that the grants indicate Utah’s ability of being innovative on a number of fronts as
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they are progressing towards increasing college participation, preparation and completion. He further said, “Partnering with other state higher education systems will allow us to brainstorm new strategies and identify best practices on a nationwide scale, further ensuring that public higher education in Utah is accessible, affordable and high quality.”
66 by 2020
The grant proposal of Utah was able to point out several issues in regard to the state’s objective of having around 2/3rds of Utah’s adults with a post secondary certificate by the year 2020. The Utah Legislature has endorsed the goal named “66 by 2020” and it is also considered to be one of the primary aspects of the education agenda of Government Gary Herbert.
As per the state education officials, the grant money will be used to:
- Serve about 27% of the people of Utah who haven’t completed their education in college
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In this respect, the spokeswoman for the Utah System of Higher Education, Melanie Heath, said that the objective is actually to point out incoming students who need help during the admission process and also to give them sufficient information. She added, “Their hope is to implement these predictive analytic throughout the system so they can find which kids they need to get in touch with and make sure they get connected to an adviser.”
Learning from peers will matter a lot
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The assistant commissioner of Outreach and Access, Melissa Miller Kincart, said that the grant money will play a key role in making Utah grab a position from where they can start learning from the success stories of other states. He further said that there is still an eagerness on their behalf to learn from their peers.
Now, they stand with a stronger objective. They would now be taking part in the joint effort that would inspire and help them to enhance their efforts towards not only students’ access but also towards bringing success at both institutional and state levels. If this be done, the standards of higher education of Utah would achieve a different level.
