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Forum considers alternatives for public higher education

October 19, 2006

Throughout the country, many states are entering or looking into new agreements with their public universities, exchanging higher levels of autonomy for greater accountability.

This restructuring process was most dramatically revealed in Virginia, where public universities acquired greater independence in certain operations after agreeing to meet specific, measurable public policy goals.

At an upcoming University of Wisconsin–Madison forum titled “Re-examining the Structure and Funding of Public Higher Education in Wisconsin,” higher education consultant Lara Couturier will tell the story of this groundbreaking legislation and highlight the lessons Wisconsin’s key stakeholders can learn from Virginia’s “great experiment.”

The event, to be held from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 26, will also feature a presentation on a new measure of state funding for higher education that can be used to determine where Wisconsin stands relative to other states in the past and present.

The forum will be held in the Pyle Center, 702 Langdon St., and is free and open to the public. Presentations include:

  • “Improving the Measurement of State Support for Higher Education,” Philip A. Trostel, professor of economics and public policy, Department of Economics, and Margaret Chase Smith Center for Public Policy, University of Maine, and WISCAPE visiting scholar, 10-11:45 a.m. Respondents will include: Bob Hanle, team leader, Wisconsin State Budget Office, and Andrew Reschovsky, professor of applied economics and public affairs, La Follette School of Public Affairs, UW–Madison.
  • “What Wisconsin Can Learn from Virginia’s ‘Great Experiment,'” Lara Couturier, higher education consultant and former director of research, The Futures Project, Brown University. Respondents include: Sen. Sheila Harsdorf, chair, Committee on Higher Education and Tourism, Wisconsin State Senate, and Katharine Lyall, president emerita, UW System.

Sponsored by the Wisconsin Center for the Advancement of Postsecondary Education (WISCAPE), the forum is part of an ongoing series on the changing relationship between states and public universities. WISCAPE is a UW–Madison center that seeks to engage key stakeholders, including researchers, policymakers and practitioners, in an ongoing dialogue about postsecondary education to improve decision-making and leadership practices.