Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Utah higher-education leaders outline data-driven ‘strategic reinvestment’ to align programs with workforce needs
Summary
Commissioner and system staff described a legislative-driven process to evaluate academic programs by enrollment, cost per FTE and wage outcomes to reallocate resources toward workforce priorities while minimizing harm to current students.
Commissioner Landward of the Utah System of Higher Education told a legislative committee that the system will use a data-informed framework to evaluate academic programs and guide a strategic reinvestment process requested by the 2025 Utah Legislature.
The commissioner said the approach rests on three pillars: affordability, creating financial value for the state and students, and advancing economic development by preparing a workforce that attracts industry. "We want this to be an objective data informed process," the commissioner said, describing a mix of enrollment, cost-per-FTE and wage-and-employment metrics the system will use.
Why it matters: the legislature asked the system to identify programs that could be modified, consolidated or invested in to improve returns for students and taxpayers. The system said it will prioritize programs with low enrollment, high cost per full-time-equivalent student and below-target…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
