COMMUNITY POLICY FORUMS ON HIGHER EDUCATION
The Vasconcellos Legacy Project Continued the Conversation on Higher Education Access and Success at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose on Monday, September 28!
September 28 -Faculty members, students leaders, elected officials and other community leaders gathered at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose to discuss the state of higher education in California. Forum participants gathered to talk about the Legislatures's recent passage of ACR 65 to create the Joint Committee on the Master Plan, and expressed some concerns that the public may lack clear and factual information on the severity of the education crisis in California.
In addition, forum participants successfully identified at least five key themes and several specific strategies that the stakeholders in the room believe the Legislature should focus on to ensure that higher education will continue to thrive in California, including:
-Reawakening the public to the value of investing in our children and higher education
-Committing to student access and affordability
-Recognizing the need for cultural competence and embracing California's diversity
-Providing student services and support, along with comprehensive, high-quality educator training
-Working towards structural reform of California government
For more details on the outcomes from the Evergreen Valley College event, please visit our outcomes page.
An important next step will be to identify the possible impediments that could hamper progress on any of these issues, and to develop specific solutions to the inevitable challenges. Please contact us at any time in the future to provide any additional thoughts, concerns or solutions that should be considered, as the legislature embarks on this process.
Vasconcellos project hosted a March 17th Community Policy Forum at UC Berkeley and an April 7th Community Policy Forum at UCLA
March 17, 2009 - The Vasconcellos Legacy Project Staff, the Associated Students at UC Berkeley, the Boalt Hall Student Association, the Berkeley La Raza Law Journal, the California Law Review and the University of California Student Assocation jointly organized a community policy forum on higher education on the UC Berkeley campus.
April 7, 2009 - The Vasconcellos Legacy Project Staff, the Associated Students at UCLA and the University of California Student Assocation jointly organized a community policy forum on higher education on the UCLA campus.
We would like to extend our warmest thanks to everyone who came out for these events, and took part in an evening of roundtable discussion by sharing of their hopes, concerns and expectations for higher education in California. Outcomes from the UC Berkeley and UCLA forums have been posted here.
As a reminder, these events were just a piece of the our continual efforts to engage Californians in important issues all around the state. Please join the Vasconcellos Legacy Project Politics of Trust Network to learn about our progress, the latest developments, upcoming events, and other ways in which you can get involved!
We would also like to emphasize the links between community output and some of the research that is being completed on higher Education Access. To read more on the topic, please check out the Institute for Higher Education Leadership & Policy Report and a report from the National Commission on Higher Education that we will use to further inform our further work.
Thank you again, and please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any suggestion for future events!
November 20, 2008 Kick-off Event at Sacramento State University
November 20, 2008 - The Vasconcellos Legacy Project Staff and the Associated Students at Sacramento State co-hosted, Preparing Higher Education for Our Coming Generation of Students, a community policy forum on higher education. We began the evening with roundtable discussions about the key issues that this regional stakeholder group believes need to be addressed within the four major policy areas:Access, Affordability, Accountability, and the Quality of the Experience. Attendees were asked to share their thoughts on what challenges they believe today and tomorow's students face in accessing and succeeding in higher education. The groups developed numerous recommendations they would like to see the Legislature address when updating the Master Plan for Higher Education in time to appropriately honor its 50th Anniversary in 2010.
To learn more about the outcomes, majors themes, and recommendations that the participants shared, or to help plan or sponsor an event or effort in your area, please visit the Higher Education Community Forum Outcomes Page.
We have previously presented the leadership of the Legislature with our proposal to support a legislative effort to update California's Master Plan for Higher Education in time to celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2010, with a specific focus on addressing four key issues: Access, Affordability, Accountability, and the Quality of Education.
As our commitment to this proposal, we will continue to work with the public and experts in the field of higher education to produce research-based policy proposals and reports. Please click here for a list of reports and research organizations that we are consulting with.
We will also continue to assist the legislature by engaging the public in policy summits and town hall meetings on the current issues and challenges facing higher education in California and aggregating the core themes of these public discussions to inform the legislature's process. This ongoing public dialogue will include input from students, faculty, staff and other stakeholders from the University of California, California State University and California Community College and Independent University systems, as well as business and community leaders around the state who share a vested interest in California's production of a well-educated workforce and populace.
Overall, the goal of this demonstration project is to support the Legislature's efforts to update the Master Plan for Higher Education, by convening a process of community dialogue and collaborative development of policy proposals for improving higher education that involves a broader range of public input than is traditionally present at legislative hearings.
Check back often for updates as The Vasconcellos Legacy Project will continually share outcomes from our events and will be hosting additional public dialogues and communicating with the Legislature, throughout this process. |
