The challenge for all of higher education is to produce an additional 15 to 16 million graduates--ideally by President Obama's goal of 2020--to maintain the nation's competitive position in the world economy and provide greater opportunity to our younger citizens. All sectors of higher education must view themselves as integral to this effort to serve the nation's greater good, although we know achieving these numbers will not be easy.
Institutional leadership must also help address the ongoing crisis of inad- equate completion rates in our K-12 system. Another contributor to this issue, Brit Kirwan, chancellor of the University System of Maryland, served as the co-chair of a College Board initiative that advocated creating a college-going culture beginning in the earliest grades. If producing more college gradu- ates, particularly among low-income and minority students, is a national goal, higher education must assume an obligation to engage at multiple levels with our K-12 system. Boards should be aware of their institution's commitment to school reform, college readiness, teacher preparation, and other issues that will improve our nation's schools.
Of course, much of higher education continues to feel the impact of the recession in various ways. The Obama administration has made significant investments in higher education--student financial aid has been increased, as has funding for research, and the federal stimulus package will offer some temporary relief. But financial challenges will likely continue to impact many of our institutions. AGB's recent "Survey on Higher Education Governance" showed that boards are being asked to address a financial model that, for some institutions, is not sustainable in the current environment and might well need permanent change.
At the same time, citizen governance cannot tolerate ethical failures such as those recently seen among board members who serve on the University of Illinois Board of Trustees. State, institutional, and national priorities suf- fer when the higher-education story becomes one about ethical lapses or conflict-of-interest violations, rather than about strategies to meet our pub- lic purpose. AGB will soon release a new set of conflict-of-interest policy standards that I hope will receive serious consideration. Given the increased national attention to higher education, boards should demonstrate a commit- ment to the highest fiduciary standards. Each board must strive to be account- able for its own behavior.
AGB supports collaborative governance, or what the association refers to as "integral leadership," in which presidents, boards, and faculty members work jointly to craft a strategic response to meet the needs of their institutions and the nation. Our national agenda requires nothing less.
