Midwestern Higher Education Compact Meeting in Fargo, North Dakota on November 9 by Larry Issac

Annual Policy Summit & Commission Meeting
November 9-10, 2009: Fargo, ND
Investing in Success: Improving Postsecondary Access and Completion Rates of ALL Citizens


PLEASE CHECK BACK FOR REGISTRATION INFORMATION.

MHEC will hold its annual policy summit on Monday, November 9, tentatively beginning at 8:00 a.m. The Commission Meeting will meet on Tuesday, November 10, adjourning at approximately 2:30 p.m. to allow commissioners and guests time to get home for any Veteran’s Day events that may be scheduled on November 11. These two meetings will be preceded by a working dinner meeting of the MHEC Executive Committee on Sunday, November 8.

All meetings will be held at the Holiday Inn of Fargo, 3803 13th Ave. South, Fargo, ND 58103.

The theme for the summit is Investing in Success: Improving Postsecondary Access and Completion Rates of ALL Citizens.

The region's economic competitiveness is contingent upon citizens having the education and training required in a rapidly evolving labor market. However, America has fallen behind other nations in its efforts to increase the education level of its workforce. The United States is one of only two nations in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development where the postsecondary credentialing rate of younger citizens is lower than the rate for older citizens.

President Obama recently challenged Americans to increase their investment in higher education by committing to at least one year or more of higher education or career training. The data make it very clear that as a country we must endeavor to ensure that no part of our citizenry is left behind in our efforts to achieve postsecondary completion rates that rival top performing nations of the world.

To that end, MHEC, through its continued work with Lumina Foundation for Education's "Making Opportunity Affordable" initiative, will hold its Fifth Annual Policy Summit focusing on strategies to help all citizens achieve the education and training required to enable their full participation in the workforce. The summit will approach this challenge in two ways: 1) through an examination of funding mechanisms designed to incent students and reward institutions for their successes and 2) through a focus on proven strategies and promising practices to improve college access and completion rates among selected segments of the population, including low-income citizens, ethnic minorities, rural and isolated populations, children of recent immigrants, Native Americans and First Nations peoples, and returning adults.

States that have experimented with completion-based funding and have built incentives into appropriations formulas will share their experiences and discuss the challenges and opportunities such experiments can bring. Colleges and universities in surrounding states and Canadian provinces will be invited to present programs and practices that have proven effective in boosting access and completion rates among individuals who traditionally have been underrepresented in higher education.

For further information on the policy summit, please contact Chris Rasmussen, vice president for research and policy analysis at 612-625-2431.