Final Draft
7/15/98

2020 Vision:
A Strategic Agenda for Kentucky’s
System of Postsecondary Education

The Vision

• Educated citizens who want advanced knowledge and skills and know how to acquire them; and who are good parents, good citizens, and economically self-sufficient workers.
• Globally competitive businesses and industries respected for their highly knowledgeable employees and the technological sophistication of their products and services.
• Vibrant communities offering a standard of living unsurpassed by those in other states and nations.
• Scholars and practitioners who are among the best in the world, dedicated to creating new ideas, technologies, and knowledge.
• An integrated system of elementary and secondary schools and providers of postsecondary education, committed to meeting the needs of students and the Commonwealth, and acclaimed for excellence, innovation, collaboration, and responsiveness.

The Call for Change

Pure and simple, Kentuckians deserve this future. That is why our public leaders have set a goal that puts Kentucky on a path to achieving economic opportunity and a standard of living above the national average in 20 years. The key to achieving this goal is lifelong learning.

A responsive and flexible system of postsecondary education is the most important tool we need to help Kentucky flourish in the early decades of the 21^st century. Only through investment in postsecondary education with strong commitment to economic betterment can the Commonwealth and her people reach their full potential.

We need to cultivate an appetite for knowledge and skills. Our system of education needs to satisfy that hunger. Right now, nearly half of the state’s population lacks the knowledge and skills to participate fully in the economy. The proportion of the population with less than a high school diploma is greater in Kentucky than all but one of our competitor states. And Kentucky still ranks almost last in the nation in the percentage of citizens with a bachelor’s degree. Low participation in postsecondary education and below average per capita income creates a vicious cycle that needs to be broken.

Many factors have contributed to Kentucky’s poor standing—high school student dropout rates, uneven access to postsecondary resources, low motivation, high attrition, and adult illiteracy, to name a few. Unfortunately, our own rules and procedures sometimes work against students and keep them from reaching their full potential. Too many people have been bounced between systems that are not sufficiently responsive to their needs and do not coordinate themselves with one another. People move through life’s stages, developing the skills they need to cope and contribute. They deserve carefully articulated, nonbureaucratic paths from grade to grade and school to school.

Creating a responsive and friendly system of postsecondary education sought out by Kentucky’s people is one task. Creating new knowledge, technologies, and products is another. Raising the standard of living and quality of life for Kentuckians will not be possible if we can’t develop better jobs and a workforce with the knowledge and skills to fill them. And this will only be possible if the Commonwealth can create, compete for, and sustain businesses and industries that thrive on innovative ideas and technologies. Kentucky ranks very poorly in the amount of funding it attracts for research and development. This is not acceptable. In the broadest sense, the mission of the Kentucky system of postsecondary education is economic development.

The call for change is loud and clear. We need to make it possible for all Kentuckians to participate in lifelong learning. Postsecondary education is the key to prosperity—for our citizens, our businesses and industries, our communities, and our children.

Everyone—students, the public, policymakers, business and industry, labor, communities—is a stakeholder in the Commonwealth’s postsecondary education system. They will reap the benefits of our efforts to change and improve our services and the ways in which we provide them.

• Students will be able to choose from a richer array of education and training opportunities. They will be able to transfer from institution to institution with less bureaucratic interference and loss of academic credit. Adult students, especially, will experience "anytime, anyplace" education, training, and support services customized to their learning needs, time requirements, and physical locations.
• Completers of occupational and technical programs will be prepared for work and to continue their learning should they wish; graduates of our four-year schools will be critical thinkers and lifelong learners, will have skills and knowledge needed to work in a technologically advanced society, and will have a basic understanding of other cultures.
• Business, Industry, and Labor will have a workforce that is well trained and has continuous access to apprenticeship programs, "just-in-time" education, and skills upgrades. Advanced research will create new knowledge and technologies that can be transferred to businesses and labor groups.
• The Public Education Community will experience a new level of responsiveness from postsecondary education. Teacher preparation programs and professional development opportunities will be designed for teachers and administrators to implement school reform and meet the needs of students. This will require extensive consultation with school personnel and educational leaders who are the prime consumers of professional education programs.
• High School Graduates will be fully prepared for the future because they will have had teachers fully prepared and dedicated to making this happen. Those moving on to advanced education will be ready for college work because they will know up front what will be expected of them once they reach their 13^th year of schooling.
• Communities and Regions will have access to postsecondary resources and services that are designed to meet their distinct needs. The saying that "there is more than one Kentucky" is particularly true when it comes to matching educational needs with the appropriate programs and providers. One size does not fit all. Regional advisory groups will help capitalize on the diversity that is one of Kentucky’s strengths and assure that every region of the state has the educational resources it needs to prosper. These resources can come from anywhere within the state, or even from beyond its borders, as Kentucky creates a postsecondary education system that is need-based rather than institution-based.
• The General Public benefits because education, research, and service improve the quality of our lives. From arts and leisure to environmental health and public safety, educated women and men contribute to creating safe, vibrant, and nurturing communities.
• State Government will progress toward the Commonwealth’s goal of "achieving economic opportunity and a standard of living above the national average in 20 years." Economic development, improved education, self-sustaining families, a strengthened financial position, and reduced crime—all of these statewide objectives are bolstered through postsecondary education.

The Spectrum of Providers

Kentucky’s system of postsecondary education consists of a rich array of institutions—each with its own unique strengths and role but collectively creating a network of opportunity and choice for our citizens. By developing different strengths among the institutions and helping them cooperate with one another and other providers of advanced education, we will create an integrated network of high-performance learning organizations.

State policy makers have set broad goals for Kentucky’s public institutions. The year 2020 is when we should reach these goals. But we have to begin now or it will be too late.

• The Kentucky Community and Technical College System will be the primary provider of two-year transfer and technical programs, workforce training for existing and new businesses and industries, and remedial and continuing education to improve the quality of life and employability of the citizens of the Commonwealth.
• The Regional Universities—Eastern Kentucky University, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, and Western Kentucky University—will work cooperatively to assure statewide access to appropriate, high quality baccalaureate and master’s degree programs. Each university will develop at least one program of national distinction.
• The University of Louisville will be a premier, nationally recognized metropolitan research university.
• The University of Kentucky will be a major comprehensive research institution ranked nationally among the top twenty public universities.

Kentucky’s independent institutions offer rich and diverse postsecondary education choices throughout the state. Kentucky’s people are best served by a broad array of postsecondary education providers. This vital component of our system will be embraced as a full partner in the greater system of postsecondary education of which the state-supported system is a part.

The Commonwealth Virtual University, using distance learning technology when appropriate, will help transform Kentucky’s institutions into a coherent system. Electronic delivery of education, training, and services will allow us to go to our citizens rather than force them to come to us. It can help us get the most out of the dollars the public invests in the system. The Commonwealth Virtual University will bring Kentuckians the best and most useful instruction available anywhere in the nation or the world—any time and any place.

All of this, at all the institutions and from all the electronic providers, is about creating good jobs through developing useful knowledge and technology, and preparing an educated workforce to fill them. We need to prepare the full array of workers—from technicians and physicians to teachers and marketing representatives—who are needed in a complex, technologically sophisticated Commonwealth.

The Investment

Kentucky has a significant asset in its postsecondary education system. State dollars are augmented by private support that provides a margin of excellence. The demands of the early 21^st century require us to maximize our return on this asset and on future investments in creative ways not imagined or even possible in the past. We have . . .

• An investment in governing boards and institutional leaders committed to act in the best interests of the state while creating unique places for their institutions within a coordinated system.
• An investment in faculty dedicated to helping students become skilled and active learners and problem-solvers; to creating new ideas and technologies; and to working with colleagues within and beyond their own institutional boundaries.
• An investment in student aid, in the form of need-based grants, scholarships, and loans, to make sure that postsecondary education is financially accessible to all Kentuckians.
• An investment in staff who know that their responsibility is to serve students and other customers, and who work continuously to improve service levels and maintain their own skills.
• An investment in libraries that share their resources and provide access to knowledge and information through both traditional and electronic means.
• An investment in technology that allows faculty to teach better and to reach more students, expands the availability of knowledge and information, and helps students prepare for the modern workplace.
• An investment in physical facilities that foster better teaching and learning, and support cooperation among multiple institutions providing instruction. In addition to traditional campuses, regional centers can extend access to advanced education to more locations. These jointly planned and designed facilities will be used by both public and private institutions and by non-traditional providers of instruction and other educational services.
• All the assets of postsecondary education have to be focused on providing occupational and technical training, liberal education, graduate and professional study, and pure and applied research. The effort in which we are involved requires a total investment of resources by all of postsecondary education.

Effective partnerships between postsecondary education and the state are forged when the leaders involved hold a shared vision of excellence for the system. The people of Kentucky should insist upon educational leadership that is committed to provide the best possible services as efficiently as possible. This requires cooperation and collaboration. It requires making the whole greater than the sum of the parts.

The Council on Postsecondary Education is charged with leading the reform efforts envisioned by state policy leaders. Council members have pledged reduced bureaucracy, staunch advocacy, decisive management, and effective stewardship to achieve these results:

• public support for the value of postsecondary education;
• information that is helpful to students and their families in making educational decisions;
• an educational system that is well coordinated and efficient;
• incentives that stimulate change and prompt institutions to redesign programs and services, realign resources to priorities, improve productivity, and generate new resources;
• information that shows the public how the system and its institutions are performing;
• data and research that help policy makers make good decisions.

Institutional governing boards and campus leadership will bring about the changes necessary to transform Kentucky’s individual postsecondary education institutions into a coherent system of institutions that are distinguished among their peers. They have pledged to think creatively and imaginatively, plan thoughtfully, respond quickly, strive for excellence, spend wisely, and work cooperatively.

The Strategic Committee on Postsecondary Education brings together state policy leaders in a forum to exchange ideas about the future of postsecondary education in Kentucky. Its members, including the Governor, legislative leaders, Council members and the Council President, and other representatives, play a pivotal role in assuring that the efforts of the postsecondary education system have the long-term support of policy makers and are tied to statewide needs and economic well-being.

This agenda sets in motion a fundamental shift in how Kentucky thinks about postsecondary education. It underlies every policy developed, action taken, and decision made. It is the starting point for extensive, detailed planning.

Over the coming months, the development of an implementation plan will translate this agenda into more specific goals, performance indicators, and incentives. The process will be a collaborative one in which the perspectives of elected and appointed government officials, Council members, faculty and staff, students, employers, representatives of elementary and secondary education, business leaders, labor groups, and the public are carefully considered.

We must act quickly. The following questions will help shape our plans and actions. They identify some concrete, tangible indicators of what should result from our efforts. These indicators need to be made specific for the system and its member institutions. Then they need to be measured to determine the extent of our success. Offered now, they help us to begin with the ends in mind.

• Are high school graduates going on to postsecondary education in greater numbers? Are they fully prepared when they get there? Are they advancing through the system smoothly and in a timely fashion? Are they graduating in greater proportions?
• Are we helping people prepare themselves to lead fulfilling lives, be good workers, and perform their civic responsibilities? Are our students ready for the global marketplace of the 21^st century?
• Is Kentucky creating its own busineses as well as attracting new businesses, industries, and jobs? Are Kentucky employers able to find the qualified employees they need? Are continued training opportunities available to keep workers’ skills up-to-date?
• Are major industries and small businesses receiving adequate advisory and research support? Are governments and corporations investing more research and development dollars in Kentucky’s research universities?
• Have our schools, colleges, and universities become nationally respected for their progress and their commitment to helping build better lives for all Kentuckians?
• As a system, we shall ask and answer these and other questions plainly and in public. For now, we dedicate ourselves to getting off to a good start so that, even before we reach the year 2020, the short answer to each is "Yes."