Brian Peach
Daily Egyptian
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In an annual report issued to the Illinois Board of Higher Education, SIU compared itself to a dozen other institutions and came up short.
The administration is using the figures released by the Office of Academic Affairs to improve certain areas at the University in an effort to be more like SIUC's peers.
The report, which was issued for the first time this year, outlined six main goals: affordability; access and diversity; economic growth; teaching and learning; quality of learning; and productivity and accountability.
Performance goals for improving each issue varied, but the goal for most was to increase to the level of SIUC's peers.
The 2002 fiscal year report compares SIUC to eight peer universities and four aspirational ones. The first are Auburn, Iowa State, Kansas State, Ohio, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, Washington State and West Virginia. The latter four are Louisiana State, the University of Colorado at Boulder, the University of Kentucky and the University of Missouri-Columbia.
One goal SIUC has is to improve teaching and learning. SIU hopes to match the peer schools and improve on areas such as the number of doctoral degrees conferred in education. SIUC handed out 24, while peer schools averaged 32 and aspirational schools were at 40.
Affordability is also a concern. SIU's in-state graduate tuition is down from the average by about $800, and the in-state undergraduate tuition is about $200 more than peer schools.
Corey Bradford, assistant vice president for finance, said that SIUC is less expensive than fellow research institutions in Illinois such as the University of Illinois and Illinois State University, but it's not the cheapest in the state. He said Eastern Illinois and Western Illinois Universities will probably be less expensive after tuition at SIUC goes up by more than $600 in the fall.
Among the dozens of areas looked at, even reputation found its way onto the report. SIUC's score was 2.6, while peer and aspirational institutions were at 2.98 and 3.18 respectively.
"We're using this report as a springboard to improve quality," said Chancellor Walter Wendler. "We want to compare to institutions that are better than we are. If we wanted to make ourselves look good, we'd compare ourselves to institutions that are not as strong as SIU."
John Haller, vice president for Academic Affairs, said that peer institutions are chosen by the Illinois Board of Higher Education and a consortium of similar institutions, while aspirational peers are those that are universally looked at as better than SIU.
"They may have a better way of doing something, so for an aspirational peer, you may want to send somebody there to see what they're doing that we're not doing," Haller said. "Then we can learn from that experience."
Haller said the IBHE is requiring that all Illinois institutions have assessment programs in place by 2004. These evaluations assure that university programs are meeting their objectives.
"We pretty much have that taken care of," Haller said. "We're at 92 or 93 percent finished right now."
An external board of two or three reviewers from aspirational peers and other groups does the program reviews, and an internal review board also participates. It consists of faculty and groups such as the graduate council.
"These people take a very tough look at our program and make an assessment with recommendations," Haller said of those who evaluate departments, centers and institutions.
Scott Kaiser, spokesperson for SIU President James Walker, said that SIUC is focusing on the six goals listed in the report for improvement. Citing the report numbers, he said SIUC is below peers in certain areas, but also better in certain regards.
"In order to be a better institution, you have to strive to be like those who are above you," Kaiser said. "You have to constantly work to improve, or you're going backward."
Reporter Brian Peach can be reached at bpeach@dailyegyptian.com
Published on 11/17/05; 12:24:44 PM
