We summarize the college's future-facing strategy...so you don't have to by Meagan DelVecchioDr. Maurizio Trevisan, the provost of City College, took the lectern last Thursday to map out a strategic plan to alleviate the financial burden pressuring the school. Under-enrollment and state budget cuts halted the college's ability to function at the level it desires. Trevisan, working with faculty members serving on several committees, wants to eradicate these problems within the next six years.The college's potential outcomes are outlined in "Vantage Point 2022." The ambitious five-page document hopes to increase opportunities for both graduate and undergraduate students. It encourages:
- Increased access to high-impact experiences, such as internships, service learning, and study abroad programs
- Expanded student career development and post-graduate job opportunities
- Improved student services -- admissions, advisement, registration and technology
- Development of more hybrid and online courses and programs
- A 6% increased graduation rate.
Trevisan promises, "This is not an empty document. Underneath the inspiring words is a concrete plan of benchmark that we need to achieve in order to fulfill our dream."Many CCNY professors and administrators believe recruiting international students provides one key to propelling the college forward. Currently, most City College students come from the New York City area, the largest proportion commuting from Queens. "Our mission got confused," said one professor at the end of the meeting last week. "We are thinking locally and acting locally." He argues that foreign students make the best ambassadors for school promotion. "Give them a diploma and a brochure of the school for the next person," he said, adding that a cross continental exchange could help with the enrollment deficit.Left unsaid: Foreign students generally bring in more tuition revenue than local students. Other colleges have already figured this out. According to a recent report, nearly one million international students were educated in the U.S. last year, many of them from China, India and the Middle East. That’s up 10 percent from the previous year. They pay higher tuition than in-state students and receive less financial aid.Despite mountains of bad news about the drop in enrollment that triggered the current budget woes, 2015's student body rose to 11,400, up 200 from 2014. The slow climb needs to continue if the college is to achieve the strategic report’s grand plans and even stay afloat in the face of serious financial woes.Trevisan laments, "Without City College a big chunk of the population will not be able to pursue their dream of an education and, then later, success in life."Other goals mentioned in the plan:
- Renovate Baskerville and Marshak, the building of student and faculty common areas
- Create a school of the arts.
- Launch new degree programs, with emphasis on interdisciplinary fields, entrepreneurship and innovation.
- Better utilize campus physical space and facilities to promote health and wellness
- Complete the technology infrastructure upgrade
- Enhance education and training on equity, inclusion, and diversity and further develop institutional and departmental plans for faculty diversity
The bottom line: The proposed overhaul strives to usher in a new environment which will promote student growth and enrollment and hopefully, push back the financial trouble. The question remains though, in the meantime, how do we pay for it?