Arizona Board of Regents Puts Students First and Focuses on Degree Completion

As the governing body of Arizona’s state universities, the Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) recently produced a video outlining “A new reality for Arizona,” detailing some of our state’s current economic and quality of life challenges, and the need to increase degree attainment as a key contributor to a stronger, more prosperous Arizona. The video points out that, six years after high school, only 17% of Arizona students have a bachelor’s degree. Since the fastest growing careers require a postsecondary education, Arizona will need to do better to attract those jobs and industries to our state.

“Our students’ needs are changing dramatically. Our funds have been cut significantly,” says Fred DuVal, Chair of the Arizona Board of Regents. “Yet, in order to be responsive to the global economy, we have got to produce more graduates. So, we decided we have to do business differently. We have to put the needs of our students first.”

With that in mind, ABOR has developed “The Enterprise Model,” designed to require universities to be more efficient and to carefully measure success based not just on student enrollment, but on degree completion. And, they have been working with our universities and community colleges to create more affordable pathways to high quality degrees, and greater accessibility to higher education to those who may not have been able to attend a higher education institution in the past.

For more information on the Regents’ vision, watch the video below and visit the ABOR web site.