Programs and Services staff met with WICHE’s Veterinary Medicine Advisory Council on June 20-22 in Santa Fe. The council, which includes state, legislative, and institutional representatives, meets annually to review policies regarding Professional Student Exchange Program (PSEP) support in veterinary medicine, the largest PSEP field. In 2011-12 eight states provided almost $6 million in support for 202 students studying veterinary medicine. Staff and the council discussed veterinary workforce needs in the West; the evolution of the doctorate of veterinary medicine (D.V.M.) curriculum as institutions move towards interprofessional education and problem-based learning; the need for D.V.M.s in public and global health and D.V.M./M.P.H. and D.V.M./Ph.D. programs; and the increase in student debt loads and low starting salaries in some regions. Staff from WICHE’s Mental Health Program presented a session on strategies to help students and D.V.M. colleagues handle the stresses unique to the D.V.M. profession; according to recent studies, the D.V.M. suicide rate is one of the highest among healthcare professionals.

On May 9-10 WCET convened 100 higher education administrators, e-learning experts, and representatives from four textbook-publishing companies in Salt Lake City to identify critical issues that institutions ought to consider to be successful with a digital content initiative. The adoption of digital-learning content to replace or supplement traditional print textbooks presents both an opportunity and a challenge. Many institutions have developed partnerships with commercial providers of e-textbooks, oftentimes with the goal of controlling rising textbook costs for students. Others are building entire courses or learning components such as simulations and are making them freely available as open educational resources. The meeting’s speakers included Kaye Howe, executive director of the National Science Digital Library and a former WICHE commissioner, who detailed why this topic is so critical for engaging today’s youth in learning; and a representative from the U.S. Department of Education, who spoke about several important federal initiatives promoting open educational resources.

In other news WICHE's Policy Analysis and Research unit hosted the sixth multistate data exchange working meeting on May 23-24 in Eugene. In addition, Policy staff presented on the data exchange project, and how it’s an excellent testbed for the Common Education Data Standards project, at the spring meeting of the Education Information Management Advisory Consortium, which works with the Council of Chief State School Officers. Staff also presented at the IPEDS Workshop and State Data Conference in Bethesda in early May and at the Association for Institutional Research’s Annual Forum in New Orleans. In June Policy staff joined a meeting of Colorado and Denver agencies serving low-income residents, focusing on ideas for increasing their success in education and training. Policy staff also served on the faculty at the recent Mayors Institute on Children and Families [http://www.nlc.org/find-city-solutions/iyef/mayors-institute-on-children-and-families], hosted by the National League of Cities, providing guidance on increasing attainment by adults with prior college credit and increasing college access and success for low-income students. Finally, Policy staff spoke to higher education leaders from the Four Corners’ states (Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah) about the implementation of the Common Core State Standards at a meeting hosted by the College Board in Scottsdale.

June 2012  | Share this on Twitter | Post this on Facebook