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The following general information may be useful in communicating with constituencies and the media about the U-CAN project.
- The National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU) was created to be an advocacy organization, representing the interests of higher education and its students generally, and the interests of private colleges and universities specifically, at the federal policy level. The University & College Accountability Network (U-CAN) is a bit of an unusual role for NAICU, given that this is an operational - rather than policy - effort.
- U-CAN does tie directly to NAICU's higher education policy mission. It is, first of all, a response to the increasingly strident calls - by those in Congress, the Department of Education, and elsewhere in society - for greater accountability and transparency by America's colleges and universities. Whether or not those calls are always wise, thoughtful, or justified, they are a fact of life. How we respond to them will affect independent higher education's ability to thrive under a new regulatory regime. Further, we are being pressed to react quickly.
- The U-CAN consumer information project is, secondly, an honest effort to better organize and communicate college selection information across institutions, so that students and their families can more easily learn the wide range of options available to them across the higher education universe. Each institution's informational profile will be displayed in a largely standardized template, so that consumers explore colleges and universities using a common base.
- The U-CAN project is unabashedly oriented toward the interests of prospective college students and their families, as determined through focus groups and other research, rather than toward the self-interests of the participating institutions. In this sense, U-CAN is not so much a tool for marketing the individual college, as it is a parallel initiative - in much the same manner as institutional information included on the Department of Education's COOL Web site, or in comprehensive college guides such as the Peterson's or College Board books.
- The U-CAN template had to be founded in compromise, in order to accommodate the incredibly diverse set of institutions that comprise private higher education. The NAICU membership includes small, regional, faith-related institutions; liberal arts colleges attracting a national and international student body; major research universities; Ivy League institutions; single-sex colleges and institutions primarily serving minority students; as well as schools that focus exclusively on educating students in the arts and various professions.
- The U-CAN profiles are not a means of ranking or rating colleges and universities. Rather, they will be a convenient way to compare and contrast various institutions. To do this, the template offers ample opportunities for the institution to present its special nature and mission, as well as to highlight academic and student life features that most clearly set the institution apart.
- As noted, NAICU also had to move quickly if U-CAN were to be operational in time to influence the debate on higher education accountability. The U-CAN profiles will be operational and available to consumers in September 2007 - well in advance of similar accountability and transparency efforts being developed by other higher education associations.
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