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Ohio University Trustees To Adopt University ‘Completion Plan’ At March Meetings
By: WOUB Staff Writer
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In its March meetings starting Thursday, the Ohio University Board of Trustees will discuss and adopt a university "Completion Plan," which aims to increase first-year retention rates, graduation rates and more.
The plan is in accordance with an Ohio House bill requiring universities to "adopt an institution-specific strategic completion plan" by no later than June 30, 2014. From the report, by Pam Benoit, Executive Vice President and Provost:
As first presented at the January 2014 Trustees meeting, by June 30, 2014, the Ohio University Board of Trustees must adopt a University Completion Plan designed to increase the number of degrees and/or certificates awarded. Once adopted the Plan is to be submitted to the Chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents.
The report on the trustees website first focuses on retention rate, which, at the Athens campus, is 78.8 percent. The first goal is to raise that level, and then graduation rate, by 0.5 percent each year between 2014 and 2016. The four-year graduation rate at the Athens campus is 49 percent. In 2013, across all campuses, the university granted 774 two-year degrees and 6,070 Bachelor's degrees.
The second goal of the program is the already-introduced "Ohio Guarantee," the tuition plan that will begin this coming fall.
Current "strategies" covered in the completion plan:
– Learning Communities – 76 percent of students in fall 2013 participated in learning communities
– Academic Advancement Center – Coordinates all tutoring services for more than 200 courses
– Support Centers – Confidential services and treatment are available to students
– Student Help Center – Provides academic coaching to students to improve performance
– Career and Leadership Development – Can help students select programs of study
– Regional Campuses – 632 Associate's degrees were given out in 2012; 774 two-year degrees in 2013
– eLearning – Online course instruction