OSSHE/COMMUNITY COLLEGE COLLABORATIVE
FOR EXPANDED ACCESS TO POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION

Recommendations from the Subgroup to the OSSHE Provosts
and Community College Council of Instructional Administrators

September 1996

1. Preferred Name to Date
ONE - Oregon Network for Education

2. The Concept
Oregon's public colleges and universities would establish a college/university partnership that provides a range of degree programs, courses (credit and noncredit), and services that will provide ACCESS to students and constituents throughout the state. The focus would be on helping to facilitate pathways to a range of postsecondary education programs and services.

3. Description of "ONE"
Oregon's two- and four-year colleges/universities would join forces to deliver degrees, programs, courses, and services to students and constituents in times, locations, and formats that are convenient. Here is what could be found in "ONE":

• A central location on a World Wide Web page that describes what we have available and links electronically to all of Oregon's participating campuses -- and others outside the state such as Western Governors University -- for further information.
• Access to Associate of Arts Transfer degrees from Oregon community colleges.
• Access to selected baccalaureate degrees (majors will include: TBA) from OSSHE institutions.
• Access to selected masters' degrees (TBA) from OSSHE institutions.
• Access to college credit courses listed by: 1) campus offering the course, 2) discipline/broad area of interest, 3) level, and 4) technical requirements for participation. The goal in multiply characterizing courses is to make match-ups between need and availability easier.
• Access to courses from community colleges and OSSHE campuses that can be taken by high school students for college credit (goal to accelerate progress toward degrees).
• Access to noncredit, nondegree-related opportunities or professional development and lifelong learning. Such opportunities could be multiply listed to include: 1) campus offering the opportunity, 2) discipline/broad area of interest, 3) technical requirements for participation, 4) prerequisite skills or knowledge that may be needed.
• Access to centralized (one-stop) student services: e.g., financial aid, electronic and in-person advising, transferring credits between campuses, placement testing, assessment of prior learning, payment of fees (Master Card).
• Definitions of the types and modes of class offerings (e.g., what's the difference between a telecourse and an on-line course, or a WWW course and a modem-course).
• Content and/or career pathways that assist in the selection of programs; e.g., a series of questions that ask about interest in areas such as business, health, law enforcement, environmental, high technology, etc., with linkages to career and educational information (degrees, courses, professional development opportunities, job projections that may be related and available in the inventory).
• Technical requirements needed to take courses from participating campuses.
• List of campuses that have agreed to serve as "host" campuses for students seeking a degree or services (e.g., these campuses could agree to accept for residency courses from Northwest-Accredited institutions).

4. Some Initial Guidelines for Consideration

• The educational public sectors would agree to be partners in developing, brokering, marketing, and providing an array of core degree programs and significant components of programs (e.g., certificates/minors) that will help Oregonians meet their employment and advanced professional development goals.
• The consortium would be operated on a dynamic basis; individual campuses would participate in the consortium initiative on a voluntary basis. Campuses could come and go over time from the consortium, however, participating campuses would be expected to make some commitment to the consortium in terms of time and resources.
• The statewide initiative would encompass varied delivery formats, making best use of a variety of multimedia and on- and off-campus approaches (e.g., ED-NET, ITFS, Internet-WWW, videotape, telecourses, traveling faculty, regular on-campus classes at nearby institutions, brokered-in classes from outside the state).
• The aim would be to develop partnerships (these could include business partners, private schools, out-of-state organizations) to communities when and where they are needed.
• The goal would be to develop statewide coverage whether by operating in regions or offering programs on a statewide basis.
• Ongoing, systematic assessment of need would be conducted by the cross-sector consortium.
• A financial model that would enable K-12 funding to be used to provide access to college-level courses by college-ready high schoolers would be sought (as in states like WA, FLA, MN, CO, UT), probably through legislative action as has occurred in other states (i.e., funding would follow the students).
• An advisory body would be established to provide oversight to ONE, to determine what changes are needed in operations and programming over time. Staff to this initiative may need to be identified from each sector and a collaborative budget developed.