ACTA’s 11th state report finds higher education in Florida has both sunny spots and storms to avoid, yet overall has strong potential to set an example for other states to follow. The report, Florida Rising: An Assessment of Public Universities in the Sunshine State, examines issues of cost, speech codes, administrative vs. academic spending, core curriculum, athletic spending, and graduation rates. “Florida higher education navigated the economic downturn with more restraint than many other states in terms of keeping tuition relatively affordable, and can be seen as a model for the nation in that regard,” said Anne D. Neal, ACTA president. “However, rampant athletic spending, restrictive speech codes and an incomplete core curriculum show that continuing Florida’s upward course will need strong and active leadership from governing boards.”
ACTA’s 12th state higher education report examines questions of great urgency for the state of Mississippi: How should individual public universities choose their leadership? Are the public universities careful stewards of taxpayer dollars? Is free speech protected on Mississippi’s college campuses? The report assesses institutions on measures of academic strength, intellectual diversity, cost effectiveness, and […]
At a time of major fiscal crisis and growing student and faculty unrest, ACTA’s report points the finger at California’s college and university trustees as both the problem-—and the solution-—to greater access and quality in the Golden State. Praising the California Master Plan for establishing an accessible statewide system of higher education, the report finds […]
ACTA releases the ninth in its series of state reports—this one on the Commonwealth of Virginia. The report—The Diffusion of Light and Education—outlines challenges at 39 public and private colleges and universities in Virginia, in key areas of public interest: general education requirements, cost and effectiveness, and governance structures. It finds that in too many […]
The famed words of philosopher George Santayana may turn into a new reality in Florida. “Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness … ,” Santayana said. “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” But how can we progress if we don’t require college students to learn U.S. history? A […]
Florida’s State University System is innovative, cost-effective and of such high quality it can be viewed as a national role model for other states, according to a mostly glowing “report card” released recently by a conservative think tank and a nonprofit academic council. “Florida Rising: An Assessment of Public Universities in the Sunshine State” from […]
A new report finds Florida’s public university system is a good model in affordability for the rest of the country. Florida Rising: An Assessment of Public Universities in the Sunshine State analyzed cost, administrative and academic spending, curriculum, and graduation rates at Florida’s 11 universities. (Florida Polytechnic University—the 12th in the system—doesn’t begin classes until […]
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