Published: May 01, 2008 12:18 am      

Colleges part of new cooperative

Plan designed to generate more grads

Athens — Shawnee State University and Ohio University Southern are among five institutions entering into a collaborative agreement intended to increase access to educational programming and generate more college graduates.

OU’s Ironton and Chillicothe campuses, SSU, Rio Grande Community College and Southern State Community College today were to sign off on forming the Higher Education Consortium of Southern Ohio.

The consortium stems from the University System of Ohio, created by Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland to expand college enrollment, improve graduation rates and promote economic development.

The five-year, renewable agreement will assist member institutions to have a positive impact on the 15-county region by coordinating programming with each other, according to Jeff Perez, director of communications at Shawnee.

The agreement is unlikely to result in dramatic changes in programming, Perez said. Rather, programs offered by member institutions will be more widely available.

The agreement will emphasize collaboration over competition, said Bill Willan, interim dean at OUS.

For instance, if Shawnee had a degree program not offered at OUS, it could bring specialized courses to Ironton while OUS continued to handle the general education courses, he said.

“It would open up a degree opportunity here instead of having to spend time and resources to develop the program.”

Among the consortium’s first actions will be a gap analysis to determine unmet programming needs, Perez said.

Under the agreement, the consortium will work to expand opportunities through the entire range from certification to post-graduate programs, he said.

The agreement will build on existing transfer, articulation and pathway agreements through which credits earned at one institution are valid at another.

MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2652.