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Q&A

A conversation with Richard Wagner
on the state of higher education

TOUGH DECISIONS AHEAD

by Jennifer Halperin

Richard D. Wagner has received the 1996 Motorola Excellence in Public Service Award for his work as executive director of the Illinois Board of Higher Education. The five-year-old award is presented annually by Motorola, the Chicago-based North Business and Industrial Council and Illinois Issues magazine. Wagner, who has been with the state board since 1969, was cited for his efforts to identify and eliminate outdated and underused degree programs. The effort, known as "Priorities, Quality and Productivity," or PQP, identified 245 degree programs at public universities and 260 degree programs at community colleges that could be eliminated or consolidated. Those programs amounted to about 13 percent of all degree programs offered in the state. All public higher education institutions participate in the initiative that has targeted funds saved through PQP to higher priorities at each institution. This edited interview was conducted the day after the sudden death of Art Quern, chairman of the board of higher education. Wagner remembered his colleague and friend as a driving force behind PQP, a man who wanted Illinois students to get the best college education possible. Q: Is Illinois now doing this — offering its students the best college education possible?

Richard D. Wagner

Illinois Issues December 1996 / 31

Q: During the recent reorganization of higher education in Illinois, the IBHE asked for more powers of coordination over the newly decentralized institutions, including the authority to eliminate or consolidate programs. The proposal went nowhere. Given the loss of the governing boards, what if any coordination will there be over the institutions?

A: The relationship between the board and the schools is evolving. There's a desire on the part of board members to meet more often and strengthen the working relationship so that there can be coordination among all the institutions.

At the same time, you always are going to have some tension between the two. The system is designed to create tension; one entity is trying to look out for the system as a whole, while each school has its own interests. I expect the relationship to continue to mature.

Q: Can the competition among the institutions be ameliorated?

A: There is a healthy competition among all the universities, and between the universities and community colleges, too. I think the competition is healthy if it's controlled and constructive. There's no way around it; there will be competition. This is a decentralized, deregulated system, and that promotes competition. But the schools worked together surprisingly well during the legislative session. They wanted full funding for the board of higher education's fiscal recommendations to the governor. I think many members of the General Assembly found it surprising how well they worked together.

Q: Some say the board is having something of an identity crisis, given the changes. What is its role as a player in public policy?

A: It was easy for institutions to see the board's desire to be a coordinating body as a power grab because the board has no formal constituency; we're an easy target. I think the board is responsible to the governor, the General Assembly and the citizens of Illinois. It was created to come up with the best public policy recommendations that it can, and that's what it will continue to do.

In many respects it's a relatively weak body statutorily. It has achieved strength because the governor and the General Assembly have been willing to listen to it and make hard decisions that the board has recommended. This happened when the board recommended a community college system here in the 1960s. And when the board recommended an expansion of student financial aid programs to deal with booming numbers of students in the 1960s.

The board was the body that recommended medical schools at the University of Illinois and Southern Illinois University to expand health care training and coverage downstate. It recommended the creation of Sangamon State University and Governors State University.

It's going to continue considering what needs to be done at Illinois colleges. Like how to approach the needs of community colleges. One of the three great contributions of higher education in the United States has been the establishment of the community college system — a uniquely American system. The first great one was the establishment of land grant universities in the 1860s, and the second was the GI Bill [of Rights] after World War II.

32 / December 1996 Illinois Issues

But no one in Springfield is going to mandate [course offerings at] community colleges. One of the differences between elementary and secondary schools and higher education in Illinois is the level of regulation. The Illinois statutes regarding the state's elementary and secondary schools are about two inches thick; the rules and regulations fill two thick books. It's a highly prescriptive, mandated system, The statute for higher education is four or five pages. We have to try to serve students in these institutions without being too controlling.

Q: Will the decentralization affect progress of the PQP?

A: We all recognized PQP would be a major challenge. Early on, the board's staff put about 190 programs on the table that we were considering for elimination, and this jump-started the process. It gave the universities the idea [the program] would be aggressively pursued by the board of higher education.

IBHE can approve programs, but only colleges and universities can actually eliminate them. We used incentives to encourage campuses to make decisions, such as allowing every dollar generated by a program cut to be retained and re-used by the individual campuses.

Frequently people want to make reallocation decisions by saying they will cut everyone equally and not make hard decisions. Frequently campuses will say, "We'll assess all budgets two percent," but it's even tougher to say, "We'll eliminate this program because it has low enrollment and has become a low priority."

I think the change in schools' governance has in some respects helped move forward PQP because the campuses are much more independent. There's no question that there are changes in relations between the governing boards and campuses now, but I think the more important question is one of leadership. Those campuses with strong leadership, with a committed faculty, have moved forward with streamlining their program offerings. I think this will increase as each institution becomes even more autonomous and independent.

Q: Is higher education in Illinois doing enough when it comes to technical training? A: I think our own board has worked closely with the state's community college board, the state board of education and the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs in moving forward a coordinated approach to the technical training that workers need today. The community colleges have a unique role to play in that so many of their students will be the ones filling these technical positions. But the four-year universities have a major role in the technical fields as well; they must deal effectively with training engineers, for example. Q: How is the state doing at attracting minority students to institutions of higher learning? A: The state is doing a better job than it used to. We have a large minority population in Illinois, so it has to be a priority for us. And it has been. Each year the enrollment and graduation rates of minorities are improving.

Q: What are the biggest challenges Illinois faces in higher education?

A: There's no question that technology will continue to have a sweeping effect on the way higher education is taught. Besides taking telecourses from remote locations across the state, students can earn degrees offered through the Internet from all over the country.

There's a down side to this trend related to the quality of education delivered and a concern for maintaining standards. If an institution offers a program over the Internet, we in Illinois don't necessarily have any amount of control. We're deeply concerned about this. We're working with the attorney general's office, for instance, regarding a couple of schools in Artzona that have been offering online courses for credit that may not be up to the same quality of education we expect.

One of the biggest challenges is to continue to use our resources wisely in higher education.

The state invests $2.1 billion in higher education, and local tax revenue adds another $500 million; if we don't use this money to address the technology revolution, and to utilize that technology in teaching undergraduates and in work force preparation, the governor and General Assembly will make some changes. 

Illinois Issues December 1996 / 33