Gov. Dannel P. Malloy has reached an agreement with legislative leaders on a planned reorganization of the state's high education administration. Officials say the reorganization will streamline management and funnel more resources to programs that directly impact students.
"In the end, it's the students who win - by flattening out administration costs and overhead, we can direct more money to our students and classroom instruction,'' Mark Ojakian, Deputy Secretary of the Office of Policy and Management, who led the Malloy administration's negotiations with Rep. Roberta Willis, co-chair of the legislature's higher education committee. "In addition, this proposal will help make these schools more functional to those who attend them."
The agreement calls for the creation of a Board of Regents to oversee the four Connecticut State University campuses, the community-technical colleges and Charter Oak.
It also authorizes an advisory commission to the regents, which will be charged with devising a plan for higher education that will include the University of Connecticut.
Under the plan, the community colleges, regional universities and Charter Oak will remain separate with distinct missions.
"My concerns from the beginning have been the need to maintain the distinctiveness and uniqueness of mission of the colleges, particularly the community colleges," Rep. Willis said in a statement. "They serve a critical and defined need in our communities, one that must be maintained even as we seek efficiencies and savings. I have been assured that these concerns will be met through this plan."
At a public hearing last month, hundreds of people turned out to urge Malloy to preserve the automony of each individual campus.