Daily Vanguard

December 4th, 2007

City Council to endorse higher ed recommendations

The Portland City Council plans to authorize the goals and objectives of a committee whose mission is to make a plan for the development of higher education in Portland at the council’s 2 p.m. meeting tomorrow.

The committee, called the Portland Higher Education Subcommittee, has been working since August to make a list of recommendations to the State Board of Higher Education about what they think the board can do to improve education in Portland. The committee will give its official recommendations to the board at the end of the week, but has already made public a short synopsis of the suggestions.

They propose increasing affordability and developing relationships between community colleges and universities in Portland. They would like to see programs that focus on sustainability and develop other research programs that benefit Portland industries. And they would like to see more interaction between universities in Portland and local companies and research facilities.

The committee is one of four subcommittees chartered in March by the State Board of Higher Education to assess the state of higher education and plan for its future. City Commissioner Sam Adams sat on the Portland committee, along with many officials from universities and community colleges.

No students sat on the committee, however, and therefore did not play a part in forming the committee’s recommendation. Jim Francesconi, the committee’s chair, said he didn’t have a good answer about why there were no students on the committee, but said he does want to get student feedback on the committee’s recommendations.

The council may not delve too far into the committee’s recommendations, but those who wish to hear an open discussion—and possibly give feedback—about what Oregon schools might be in the near future can come to the meeting at 1221 SW Fourth Ave.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 4th, 2007 at 5:14 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.

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