Course Description
Discussion of issues that frame the policy relationship between states and their higher education systems. Analysis of structures and policies that states use to govern or coordinate systems and the attributable outcomes. Covers historical trends in states' management of higher education, public and private.
Athena Title
STATE SYSTEMS
Semester Course Offered
Offered fall
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Course Objectives
At the conclusion of this course, students will: 1. Gain a more comprehensive knowledge of the state's role in higher education, including the means by which higher education policy is created and implemented; 2. Understand the causes and implications of the state's changing role in higher education governance and regulation; 3. Understand why the higher education enterprise represents a unique management struggle for states; 4. Understand how the unique qualities of a state inform an understanding of the state's structures and policies regarding higher education 5. Discuss and analyze the myriad ways in which a state might manage its higher education system and the consequences of each.
Topical Outline
1. The Evolution of State Governance. From voluntary mechanisms to consolidated governance structures. 2. Coordination structures and policy environments. How states use both structure and policy to affect changes in the higher education environment. 3. The intersection of policy, structure and environment. How unique features of states and their histories interact with structures and policies to produce unique outcomes and performance across state systems. 4. Assessing outcomes: case studies of states.