September 21–23, 2005

ITEM 128-106-R0905  Make the Two-Year Education Council a formal and permanent body within the Montana University System and approve the Charter for the Council

THAT: The Board of Regents recognizes the Two-Year Education Council as a formal and permanent body within the Montana University System and approves the Charter for the Council

EXPLANATION: This request is supported by the following:

Historically, this Council was known as the Two-Year Education Committee. This committee was ad hoc in nature, facilitated by OCHE, and performed a valuable service to the Montana University System such as revising the two-year degree taxonomy in 1998 and making policy recommendations related to fee structure and tuition, application of credits to degree programs, subsidized credit hours and other critical issues. In 2004, the committee convened to develop a mission statement and goals to guide their work. At that time, the term council was adopted to reflect the function of the council--a partnership of two-year college leaders dedicated to a single purpose--ensuring that two-year colleges in Montana succeed in developing more prosperous and productive individuals, businesses, communities, and economies throughout the state.

In January 2005, the Shared Leadership Steering Committee on Workforce Development concluded that Montana's complex organizational and reporting structure makes it difficult to communicate, as a system, the importance of two-year colleges to the State. The structure also hinders statewide coordination. The Steering Committee concluded that the widely varying "lines of authority" of our two-year programs, either directly or indirectly:

a.             Create confusion regarding the function of the stand-alone Colleges of Technology , the merged COTs and the community colleges

b.             Impede collaboration and coordination of services and programs, particularly life-long learning and customized training and limit the ability of institutions to be responsive to business needs

c.             Impede the ability at the state level to coordinate two-year specific policies and system-wide improvements

To address these concerns, the Shared Leadership Workforce Development Steering Committee recommends that:

a. Request the Board of Regents institutionalize the Two-Year Education Council as a formal and permanent body within the University structure; and

b. Board of Regents review and approve a charter for the Two-Year Education Council