Over the past several months, after speaking with various individuals and groups throughout Montana, it is increasingly clear to me that the concept of a Western Governors University may be viewed as both solution and crisis. Certainly, many of us in state government have argued that the Western Governors University can be a solution to many of the problems with which higher education has historically struggled, such as increasing the number of continuing education opportunities for adult learners (the fastest growing segment of higher education's clientele), articulating degree requirements across university campuses and state lines, awarding degrees and certificates based on competency rather than seat time, and providing educational opportunities for students regardless of their physical location.
However, there are many who understandably see distance learning as a very expensive mechanism for educating students, one which will have no pedagogical advantage over a more traditional approach and may only result in the deterioration of academic inquiry and the ethic of a liberal arts education. From this perspective, WGU can be viewed as a potential crisis for our schools of higher education which will be asked to at least partially change course from their historic methods of operation. For many, this translates into the possibility of lower salaries, diminished research opportunities, greater pressure on already strained workload levels, and a reduction in institutional quality.
My response to both of these opinions is the same: We must keep both viewpoints in mind so that we can maximize the benefits WGU can provide to our state and our institutions of higher education.
Throughout our 108 year history, Montanans have consistently recognized the need for advanced learning opportunities for our citizens. In 1893, after surprisingly little debate, the Montana Legislature created not one, but four publicly funded institutions of higher education within the state's borders. This action was predicated on the belief that access to postsecondary education would be a key component in the economic and social development of our state. With multiple institutions, in multiple locations, access would be heightened, especially considering the vast distances between Montana communities. Within 20 years of the opening of the first four institutions in Bozeman, Butte, Missoula, and Dillon, two new institutions were added to provide access to burgeoning populations in Billings and along the Montana Hi-Line.
It is arguable that the operation of six public institutions of higher education has been quite expensive for several generations of Montana taxpayers. But in a fashion typical of our state, Montanans have never abdicated the responsibility of supporting what they created. Indeed, since 1920, Montanans have repeatedly approved the imposition of a property tax levy with revenues earmarked for higher education. This tax, known presently as the "six-mill levy" was originally a one and one-half mill levy, but was increased on two occasions to broaden the state's support for its growing schools.
Given this historical background, it is not surprising that Montana was quick to announce its participation in a new learning opportunity for students from throughout the United States, one that would connect students with educational experiences from all over the country and the world. As in the past, Montanans were quick to identify the benefits of easily accessible higher education, and I believe that in the past two decades these benefits have become even more apparent.
As Montana seeks to expand and diversify its economy, the development of a skilled and trainable work force is imperative. We have heard this argument from all corners of the state, if not the globe. In Montana, I believe we have an able and trainable workforce, a tribute to our elementary, secondary, and postsecondary schools which have consistently established their competency. However, the infrastructure for delivering actual work force training with specific skill sets across a broad spectrum of fields is only beginning to take shape.
In the past, industry demand was less specific in its requirements for skilled workers. Workers only needed to demonstrate basic levels of knowledge to acquire jobs that could provide an adequate living for themselves and their families. However, this is no longer true. The skill demands of industry today are playing a far greater role in the type and extent of education that our system of higher education must provide. As a result, higher education, in order to retain its role as a major provider of education and training for our professional and skilled employees, must heed this call from industry and America's workers and find mechanisms to adequately fill the work force training gap which presently exists in Montana and throughout the nation.
The Western Governors University presents an additional option to address this problem. By offering courses geared towards specific skill sets and competencies, WGU will be able to meet the growing demands of expanding industries, such as telecommunications, electronics, engineering, and human services. Because WGU will draw on multiple sources for the programs it offers, supply will be better able to keep up with demand, connecting employers and trained workers both efficiently and effectively.
An additional concern, which is inextricably related to the growth of private sector demand for specific skills training, is the need for demonstrated competency amongst graduates of postsecondary institutions. Typically in the past, a university's reputation and accreditation status along with a student's grade point average were all that was necessary to determine the ability of a student to perform necessary tasks. Now, as job markets become increasingly competitive and require higher levels of competency within more narrow career descriptions, employers are looking for better indicators of a prospective employee's qualifications.
In the realm of higher education, several institutions have responded to this need, led by innovative projects at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville and Alverno College of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. These institutions have developed testing and portfolio indicators which help both students and employers identify proficiency in core competency areas. In this way, degrees and certificates become subject to clear expectations of performance that can be easily understood by both those within and those outside higher education.
WGU has made it clear that similar indicators of student performance will be required of all programs offered under its title. Competency will be tested and demonstrated in order for students to receive certifications or degrees, and traditional demonstrations of competency, such as classroom seat time and grade point averages, indicators which have different meanings at different schools, will no longer dominate our measurement of student performance. In this way, WGU represents a comprehensive response to new social and economic demands upon higher education.
Finally, no matter our state's resolve to expand higher education access through multiple locations of campuses and teaching facilities, our public sector can no longer afford to augment the physical presence of our already large university system. As mentioned before, the fastest growing sector of students within America's higher education landscape is made up of adults seeking training in order to remain current with rapidly advancing skill needs of the private sector. These are students who want access to education from their homes, from their workplaces, and from their desks. The public university response to this cannot be to continually try to out-pace others in attracting students to larger continuing education programs, delivered at numerous off-campus sites, that cannot possibly offer the scope of training necessary for all those who require it. If the university follows this approach, it will ostensibly fall under the weight of its rapid growth. What the public university can do is serve as a delivery point, or clearing house, for educational programs already in existence while offering a small set of its own programs which will support themselves through the benefits of the same clearing house mechanism. Clearly, this is the goal, and may be the most important benefit, of WGU.
As a requirement of the economic conditions which drive our nation as well as our personal lives, universities nationwide are moving to treat their students as customers, and their faculties as service-providers. No matter how unusual this situation may be to our concept of education and the multiple roles of a university, it is fast becoming a fact of life.
For this reason, efforts such as the Western Governors University, which serve to strengthen our characterization of universities as service providers, may represent a crisis within the walls of our higher education institutions.
Being a liberal arts major in college, I have a strong appreciation for the critical thinking skills, the cultural history, the theoretical and social development, and the philosophical understanding which are provided by a quality university education. To remove these from our institutions of higher education would threaten far more than our state's ability to attract and afford talented university faculty. Indeed, it would threaten our state's social and cultural development, and would likely impede our ability to sustain the richness of our Montana heritage.
For this reason, we cannot simply sacrifice the liberal arts realm of higher education for the necessities of a growing economy. While WGU offers a clear and efficient approach toward skill training and meeting the demands of a skilled economy, its approach to the traditional role of a liberal arts education is less pronounced. Measuring competency in fields of history, creative writing, philosophy, and political science presents many different challenges than can be found in the measurement of competency in skill areas such as computer programming or design engineering. The challenges of the former are so much greater, that one would be remiss to insinuate that it could be accomplished at a national or regional level.
It is important that we recognize these limitations of the WGU model and ensure that the liberal arts offerings of WGU be established with these concerns in mind. Within this realm, we cannot afford to treat students as customers seeking to enhance employment skills, nor can we treat liberal arts faculty as simply service providers. We must continue to value the academic engagement that takes place in a liberal arts education, and provide for its support.
Because Montana will continue to provide this support, it is my belief that WGU will not be the crisis to liberal arts that many have argued it would be. WGU will not replace, or seek to replace, traditional institutions of higher education. Instead, it will work to complement the offerings that our institutions currently provide, providing new access at a more reasonable cost than previously envisioned under existing models of campus and program expansion.
At the same time, I would also like to point out that while the ethic of liberal arts will not be sacrificed, it must adapt to an economy and public which decreasingly values the product of a broad-based, liberal arts education. Therefore, universities will be increasingly asked to demonstrate increased efficiency in providing this public good. Justifying instructional budgets and providing evidence of engagement with students will take on increased importance, as we have already begun to witness in our collaborative agreements with faculty and administration throughout the state. Through these efforts we will preserve the supportive relationship between Montana's public and their university system, while averting the crises to a quality liberal arts institution that many associate with the advent of distance learning.
By working to utilize the solutions and tackle the crises represented by the Western Governors University, Montana's institutions of higher education will emerge as stronger, more active partners in the development of our state, our economy, and our people. We must continue to engage in the planning and design of WGU if we are to fully realize these benefits and I am personally appreciative that the Montana University System has risen to accept this challenging responsibility.