For Release October 09
Regents Meet in Aberdeen
Seamless education policy, Sioux Falls facilities, FY98 tuition top the agenda
ABERDEEN-Cooperative education policy, arrangements for two Sioux Falls facilities, and tuition for the 1997-98 academic year are among the key items to be taken up by the Board of Regents as it convenes today through Friday in Aberdeen.
Today Regents will meet jointly with the Board of Education to discuss policy issues facing the state's K-16 education system, especially those which promote a more seamless, or integrated, approach to serving students. Included in this discussion will be articulation of courses and programs between the state's universities and technical institutes, which allows students at technical institutes to apply courses taken at the institutes toward a baccalaureate degree at a state university. Currently, such agreements exist on an institution-to-institution level, and the boards will take up the possibility of approaching the agreements on a system-to-system basis in an effort to increase student options while maintaining program quality. Another issue to be considered in this area is the enhanced offering of accelerated courses in the state's high schools, including Advanced Placement (AP) courses and university courses offered for dual credit with participating high schools.
In addition, the boards will examine the preparation of South Dakota's K-12 teachers and administrators, with special emphasis on assessing current policies and procedures and forming cooperative efforts to enhance the preparation process.
"These joint meetings are an important part of our efforts to provide the best service possible for South Dakota students," commented Karl Wegner, President of the Board of Regents. "Both the Board of Regents and the Board of Education recognize that the actions of one often affect the other, and it is essential that we communicate and collaborate for the benefit of students and the people who teach them," he continued.
In its regular meeting on Thursday and Friday, the Board of Regents will take up a number of academic, fiscal, and infrastructure issues, including the construction of a facility to house the university system's Sioux Falls Center for Public Higher Education. The Center, which currently serves approximately 2,500 students per year, holds classes in nine borrowed and leased locations throughout Sioux Falls, at least one of which will be unavailable in the near future. Regents will discuss two major proposals for a facility for the CPHE, one offered by the Good Samaritan Society, a Sioux Falls-based long term care provider, the other by Southeast Technical Institute.
In addition, the Board will consider approval of an amendment to the University of South Dakota Medical School's lease of its Health Sciences Center in Sioux Falls to permit the construction of a Health Sciences Information Center. The proposed 22,000 square foot facility would serve as a state of the art medical information resource for health care providers throughout South Dakota, expanding the existing base of the University's Lommen Health Sciences Collection. Funding for this project would be provided by practicing physicians and businesses in South Dakota, School of Medicine alumni, foundations, and individual gifts.
In other action, the Board's Committee on Academic and Student Affairs will hear a report on results from the first year of a two year pilot phase for the universities' student proficiency exam initiative. The exams, approved by the Board in December 1995, are administered to current students completing between 47 and 68 credit hours at a state university and gauge student proficiency in areas such as writing skills, mathematics, critical thinking, and social and natural sciences. At the end of the pilot phase, a test will be selected and minimum proficiency levels established. When fully implemented, the tests will help in determining whether or not students are prepared to proceed from general education into their major areas of study, and will identify deficiencies to be corrected before a student proceeds. Preliminary results show that South Dakota students performed at or above national norms in most major areas.
On Friday, Regents will recommend tuition and fee rates for the 1997-98 academic year. Board policy currently states that resident tuition increases are not to exceed the rate of inflation (measured by the Higher Education Price Index) for the previous year, and that non-resident tuition shall cover the cost of non-resident student instruction. The Board is expected to approve the same rate of increase for both resident and non-resident students. Regents will meet all three days at the South Dakota School for the Visually Handicapped.
[EDITOR NOTE: The Board of Regents will hold a media briefing at 11:30AM on Friday (October 11) in Room 115 of Memorial Union at Northern State University.]