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The following template is written for delivery by a college or university president to an alumni group, community organization, or similar audience. It runs about 15 minutes long, as written, before college-specific information is added.
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[THANK YOU'S AND GREETINGS TO SPECIFIC AUDIENCE]
Every college president gives a lot of speeches. As you can imagine, I enjoy each one just as much as the next. But I must say that it is a special pleasure when I have the opportunity to discuss something new and exciting. And it's even better when I have the chance, as I do today, to talk about something that is not only new, but will also make a profound difference in the lives of some of the most important members of the [INSTITUTION NAME] community.
The "something new" is the University and College Accountability Network. It has an acronym, of course. But at least this one is easy to say and remember: U-CAN.
U-CAN is an in-depth, but very user-friendly, online tool-a Web site that was launched in September 2007. The site provides parents and students with exactly the kind of information they want on [INSTITUTION NAME] and other individual private colleges and universities.
But before I say more about exactly what U-CAN does, I want to talk a little about why it was created. As everyone in this room knows, there has been a lot of talk and even controversy about "accountability" in higher education. A major part of that heated discussion has focused on the need to provide prospective students and their parents with more information about colleges and universities.
And it makes perfect sense. The cost of higher education can be a real burden for families, so students and parent want to make sure the financial sacrifices they make are worthwhile.
Moreover, each student needs and wants different things from higher education. Each college and university has unique characteristics. So parents and students should have as much information as possible to make an informed choice. And the fact is that, though a great deal of information is out there, it can be hard for someone who doesn't have a lot of time or expertise to put all the pieces together.
The need for more information, then, has been a very real and important problem. Unfortunately, some of the ‘solutions' that have been proposed would not really help parents and students, and could harm [INSTITUTION NAME] and other institutions.
For example, there has been growing pressure from Congress and the administration to enact federal mandates. These would require all institutions of higher education to supply the same kinds of data and measure student learning in the same way. While well-intentioned, this rigid, narrow, top down, one-size fits all approach misses the boat entirely.
The strength of private colleges and universities like [INSTITUTION NAME] is our diversity.
Ten years ago, the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, of which we are member, produced a report that said, "American higher education is strong precisely because it is not a centrally controlled, uniform system. It is strong because the individual institutions emphasize different functions and complement each other by meeting different needs."
Those words are even truer today.
Another aspect of the information issue has been in the news. As all of you know, there has been a firestorm of controversy over U.S. News' rankings of colleges and universities. I googled "U.S. News college rankings" the other day and got more than a million hits. I'm not going to add to the argument, except to say I believe that the more information that is available for parents and students, the better.
I would urge them, however, not to rely solely on U.S. News or other rankings. The hierarchical approach such rankings take leaves out the richness of the diverse attributes individual colleges have to offer.
Which brings me back to U-CAN. I mentioned that [INSTITUTION NAME] is a member of the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, or NAICU-another acronym. NAICU members have believed for some time that we should respond to the desire of prospective students and their families for more information.
And we decided-- in the words of Vassar's President Catharine Bond Hill-"We should do what we do really well - educate and contribute new ideas."
Education, information and new ideas...those are what the University and College Accountability Network (U-CAN) is all about.
NAICU members started with the fact that we wanted to give prospective students and their families the kind of information they want on individual private colleges and universities like [INSTITUTION NAME]. And we wanted to do more. Our goal was to make it as easy as possible to get that information. And we wanted to provide it in a simple Web-based format that was concise and very easy to understand and use.
Great objectives, but we quickly realized that the first people we had to educate were ourselves.
You see, we didn't want U-CAN to be a Web portal for college presidents, deans or other administrators. It had to serve the needs of our consumers-which is a jargony way of saying ‘our students and their parents.' We had to get educated about what they wanted.
So we did a series of in-depth focus groups around the country. We gave a cross section of parents and students the chance to meet in small groups where they could let us know exactly what information they most needed, in order to make an informed college choice.
We did polling, too, and even conferred with members of Congress and Administration officials to learn what they were hearing from their constituents.
From parents and students we learned that they wanted the information presented in an easy-to-use format, which should be available free online. They wanted the Web site to be kept current with the most recently available data.
At the same time, they wanted the site to have direct links to individual campus Web sites. Those direct links would let them finds out more about the quality of the campus experience at each institution, what sets one place apart from another. Those links would help students and parents themselves determine which might be the best match.
Armed with that knowledge, NAICU started to build U-CAN. And I'm very happy to announce that the U-CAN Website recently celebrated its first anniversary.
I know that the best way to see how useful a tool it is, is to click on it.
That URL, by the way is www.ucan-network.org. But I hope you'll wait to fire up your laptops at least until I've finished speaking. In the meantime, I'll give you a preview of what you'll find on the site. Then you can click through to see whether or not I did it justice.
You will, of course, find [INSTITUTION NAME] on the site. The last time I looked, we were joined by hundreds of other institutions that already have profiles on U-CAN. But that number could be changing as I speak because more are being added all the time.
Each of these profiles is presented in a common format. That means it's easy for students and parents to evaluate the data they find about [INSTITUTION NAME] and hundreds of others.
What will consumers find in the profiles? On each one, you can start with the basics: admissions, enrollment, transfer of credit policy, accreditation.
There is also the kind of information on academics that parent and students said they wanted: common fields of study, faculty information, class size, graduation rates, etc.
The profiles provide key data on student life, as well: student demographics, campus housing, student life, and campus safety.
And of course, we didn't need focus groups to know how much parents and students cared about costs. So U-CAN has data on tuition and fee trends, price of attendance, financial aid, and average amount of student loans on graduation.
All of us who are involved are very proud of the easy to use way that U-CAN provides this critical quantitative information. But I have to say that, for me, what sets U-CAN apart is how easy it makes it to get the kind of crucial information about the quality of a college that can't be captured on a two page template.
Each profile takes you to that campus' Website, with a single click. There, students and parents will find a wealth of qualitative data. I won't even attempt to list everything that is available, because I want to finish my speech before graduation. But it includes information on
• internships,
• career and placement services,
• graduate success,
• transfer of credit policy,
• lectures & outside learning opportunities,
• intercollegiate, intramural & club sports,
• student organizations,
• community service opportunities,
• cultural & arts opportunities,
• religious & spiritual life,
• students w/ disabilities.
And more.
A year after being launched, U-CAN is staying attuned to consumer needs. To mark the first anniversary of U-CAN, NAICU relaunched the site with major site improvements.
It added an advanced search feature, increasing the number of categories parents and students can search institutions by from three to 17. This makes U-CAN "2.0" among the most searchable Web sites of its kind. Responding to focus groups with parents, U-CAN "2.0" now also features a guide to consumer resources for planning for college, finding the best fit, and navigating the financial aid maze.
What does all of this add up to? It takes us to the heart of the special role that U-CAN will play: this new online tool gives [INSTITUTION NAME] and every other institution involved the opportunity to show how we are different, to display our unique personality. In fact, on [INSTITUTION NAME]'s and every other institution's profile you'll find a "What makes us special?" link. If you click on ours you'll learn about [INSTITUTION PROVIDES DETAILS]
So, while U-CAN brings together comparable information, it allows each institution to make a distinct impression.
While U-CAN is an important tool for parents and teachers, it is not meant to replace or substitute for any others. More information resources mean better educated consumers.
For some consumers, the U.S. News rankings are the only information resource they will ever want. However, many other parents and prospective students are less interested in external rankings, and more interested in looking at a broad array of colleges, so they can decide on "best fit" on their own terms. U-CAN will help them do exactly that.
As it is now, U-CAN is a terrific tool. Just as importantly, the site will be continually improved and refined, as we learn from students, parents and the rest of the university community how it can be made better. We are adding new institutions. In the past year, the number of participating colleges and universities has increased by 21 percent, to more than 725 schools.
Let me close by saying that I'm excited about U-CAN because it really is about the future. It will help [INSTITUTION NAME] continue to shine in years to come, by attracting students who have carefully considered the alternatives and decided that we can help them on their life journey. And it will help parents and prospective students feel confident about a decision that can have a pivotal affect of the rest of their lives.
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