Spring Break
California Higher Education Master Plan comes under review
Benjamin R. Schilter
Issue date: 11/21/08 Section: News
More than 60 students, faculty and community leaders brainstormed possible expectations for the California Higher Education Master Plan during a community policy forum at the Alumni Center on Thursday.
The California Higher Education Master Plan was created in 1959 to anticipate an influx of baby boomers into the state's university system. The plan was to guarantee a space for every qualified student throughout the statewide higher education system.
As required by the plan, the state Legislature must make updates every 10 years to meet the emerging and evolving needs of the state. However, according to the UC Office of the President's website, many key aspects of the Master Plan were never enacted into state law.
The forum's purpose was to prepare recommendations for the 2010 update, 50 years since the Master Plan was implemented. Associated Students, Inc.'s Secretary of State Affairs Nicole Anderson organized the event to allow students and faculty to connect with policymakers and express their views on how to best manage the state university system.
After an introduction and welcome from University President Alexander Gonzalez and state Assemblyman Dave Jones, each of the seven groups took on three sets of questions from a list of seven to address during their session. One question asked what policies were most helpful for student success. A second asked which programs could be eliminated or improved, and how they should be improved. The top question asked was what the greatest roadblocks to education and access were for students in California.
Throughout the discussions, participants identified ways to respond to the issues. While they did not take positions with certain issues, input about the topics spurred debate amongst their fellow group members.
Ethnic studies faculty member James Sobredo discussed the issue of small class sizes. He said that students would lose access to classes if they were smaller in size. He added that the university system would eventually be bankrupt if so many classes had fewer students.
"The problem we're having here as a return on your investment is we can't do small classrooms and survive financially as an institution," Sobredo said.
"And that's the reality that we're facing."
Also, overcrowding in classes would particularly strain the UC system, where 500 students already compose a typical class, said State Assemblyman Dave Jones' representative Sarah Moussa, an international studies senior from UC Davis. The CSU system usually has between 40 and 160 students in a class, depending on the course.
California Postsecondary Education Commission Program Administrator Karen Humphrey talked about the expansion of online courses that may alleviate overcrowding. She said during the discussion that technology in education would expand and we should figure out how that expansion would happen. She said the issue is larger than online classes alone.
"The discussion needs to be how to do that so it facilitates student learning," she said during the discussions. "There should be more technology in education-the question is, to what extent?"
The policy forum was part of the Vasconcellos Project, named for former state senator John Vasconcellos, whose career was distinguished by his person-centered approach to public policy, according to the project's website. The Vasconcellos project credited the plan with helping the state's economy grow and prosper over the past 45 years.
For more information about the California Master Plan for Higher Education, visit http://www.ucop.edu/acadinit/mastplan/mp.htm
Ben Schilter can be reached at bschilter@statehornet.com.
The California Higher Education Master Plan was created in 1959 to anticipate an influx of baby boomers into the state's university system. The plan was to guarantee a space for every qualified student throughout the statewide higher education system.
As required by the plan, the state Legislature must make updates every 10 years to meet the emerging and evolving needs of the state. However, according to the UC Office of the President's website, many key aspects of the Master Plan were never enacted into state law.
The forum's purpose was to prepare recommendations for the 2010 update, 50 years since the Master Plan was implemented. Associated Students, Inc.'s Secretary of State Affairs Nicole Anderson organized the event to allow students and faculty to connect with policymakers and express their views on how to best manage the state university system.
After an introduction and welcome from University President Alexander Gonzalez and state Assemblyman Dave Jones, each of the seven groups took on three sets of questions from a list of seven to address during their session. One question asked what policies were most helpful for student success. A second asked which programs could be eliminated or improved, and how they should be improved. The top question asked was what the greatest roadblocks to education and access were for students in California.
Throughout the discussions, participants identified ways to respond to the issues. While they did not take positions with certain issues, input about the topics spurred debate amongst their fellow group members.
Ethnic studies faculty member James Sobredo discussed the issue of small class sizes. He said that students would lose access to classes if they were smaller in size. He added that the university system would eventually be bankrupt if so many classes had fewer students.
"The problem we're having here as a return on your investment is we can't do small classrooms and survive financially as an institution," Sobredo said.
"And that's the reality that we're facing."
Also, overcrowding in classes would particularly strain the UC system, where 500 students already compose a typical class, said State Assemblyman Dave Jones' representative Sarah Moussa, an international studies senior from UC Davis. The CSU system usually has between 40 and 160 students in a class, depending on the course.
California Postsecondary Education Commission Program Administrator Karen Humphrey talked about the expansion of online courses that may alleviate overcrowding. She said during the discussion that technology in education would expand and we should figure out how that expansion would happen. She said the issue is larger than online classes alone.
"The discussion needs to be how to do that so it facilitates student learning," she said during the discussions. "There should be more technology in education-the question is, to what extent?"
The policy forum was part of the Vasconcellos Project, named for former state senator John Vasconcellos, whose career was distinguished by his person-centered approach to public policy, according to the project's website. The Vasconcellos project credited the plan with helping the state's economy grow and prosper over the past 45 years.
For more information about the California Master Plan for Higher Education, visit http://www.ucop.edu/acadinit/mastplan/mp.htm
Ben Schilter can be reached at bschilter@statehornet.com.
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