U-M is featured in a new vision for higher education in the 21st century ANN ARBOR—The University of Michigan is recognized for its innovations in undergraduate education in a new national report calling for a dramatic reorganization of American higher education.

The report, released Sept. 30 by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), centers on giving all students—regardless of institution or major—a practical and engaged liberal education. Greater Expectations: A New Vision for Learning as a Nation Goes to College features U-M as one of the pace-setting institutions that is leading the way in creating a “new academy” for the 21st century. The report recommends a series of major reforms affecting nearly all aspects of the higher education experience, including how colleges and universities organize, teach and interact with K-12 educators.

U-M was competitively chosen by AAC&U for its comprehensive commitment to learning-centered education.

Lester Monts, senior vice provost, and Constance Cook, director of the Center for Research in Learning and Teaching, are U-M’s liaisons to the Greater Expectations Project, and Sylvia Hurtado, director of the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education served on the panel that developed the action steps recommended in the report.

Monts said he is proud of U-M’s contribution to this effort to rethink the role of liberal education. “We have a number of initiatives in place that are consistent with the recommendations of the Greater Expectations report. President Mary Sue Coleman has been clear that making progress on improving the undergraduate experience for our students is high on her list of priorities,” Monts said. “We have much to boast about, yet much to improve in this area. Our vibrant undergraduate degree programs, the diverse living/learning communities, the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts’ race and ethnicity course requirement and programs offered by the Edward Ginsberg Center for Community Service are examples of ways we prepare student for civic engagement in an increasingly diverse society.”

The Greater Expectations panel’s recommendations include:

• Restructuring higher education to better serve the new student body, which includes many older, part-time and minority students as well as students who get their college education over longer periods of time and from multiple institutions.

• Adopting new ways of teaching that produce students who are intentional, lifelong learners capable of meeting society’s emerging challenges.

• Creating a closer alignment between colleges and K-12 educators.

The report concludes that a practical, liberal education should be built on the belief that all students are capable of higher level learning, on a commitment to inclusiveness and equal access to high quality college education for all individuals and groups, and solid preparation for challenging college work achieved through excellent K-12 teaching and curricula.

Monts announced that Coleman will host a campus/community dialogue on
AAC&U is a national association devoted to advancing and strengthening liberal learning for all students, regardless of academic specialization or intended career. Greater Expectations was published with support from The Pew Charitable Trusts. The report, with additional links and information, is available online at http://www.greaterexpectations.org.

For more information about AAC&U, visit http://www.aacu.org. To see the report of the President’s Commission on the Undergraduate Experience, go to http://www.umich.edu/pres/undergrad/index.html. For more information on the Center for Research on Learning and Teaching, visit http://www.crlt.umich.edu/

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