Public Universities Collaborate to Close Achievement Gaps

The Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities is organizing 130 public universities and systems to work together to increase college access and close the achievement gap.

  • By Sara Friedman
  • 11/26/18
silhouette of college graduates with arms raised

The Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities is starting a major new initiative with 130 public universities and systems to make it easier for students to get a higher education degree.  The initiative, called Powered by Publics: Scaling Student Success, is a collaborative effort to improve college access, advance equity efforts and increase the number of college degrees by hundreds of thousands by 2025.

Participating institutions will be working in "clusters" of four to 12 institutions to develop and implement "innovative and effective practices to advance student success." The clusters will be broken down by focus areas such as data collection, financial aid and student financial literacy and career advising.

"We have to seize the moment and mobilize institutions to improve not just college access, but also equity in student outcomes and the number of students who earn degrees," said APLU President Peter McPherson. "That's what Powered by Publics is all about and why we're thrilled to work with our member institutions toward such an important national goal."

The Powered by Publics effort will be overseen by the APLU Center for Public University Transformation.  A national advisory council of higher education though leaders will also be created to provide a strategic vision and guidance for APLU's efforts.

More information about the participating institutions and clusters can be found here.

About the Author

Sara Friedman is a reporter/producer for Campus Technology, THE Journal and STEAM Universe covering education policy and a wide range of other public-sector IT topics.

Friedman is a graduate of Ithaca College, where she studied journalism, politics and international communications.

Friedman can be contacted at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @SaraEFriedman.

Click here for previous articles by Friedman.


Featured

  • person signing a bill at a desk with a faint glow around the document. A tablet and laptop are subtly visible in the background, with soft colors and minimal digital elements

    California Governor Signs AI Content Safeguards into Law

    California Governor Gavin Newsom has officially signed off on a series of landmark artificial intelligence bills, signaling the state’s latest efforts to regulate the burgeoning technology, particularly in response to the misuse of sexually explicit deepfakes. The legislation is aimed at mitigating the risks posed by AI-generated content, as concerns grow over the technology's potential to manipulate images, videos, and voices in ways that could cause significant harm.

  • close-up illustration of a hand signing a legislative document

    California Passes AI Safety Legislation, Awaits Governor's Signature

    California lawmakers have overwhelmingly approved a bill that would impose new restrictions on AI technologies, potentially setting a national precedent for regulating the rapidly evolving field. The legislation, known as S.B. 1047, now heads to Governor Gavin Newsom's desk. He has until the end of September to decide whether to sign it into law.

  • illustration of a VPN network with interconnected nodes and lines forming a minimalist network structure

    Report: Increasing Number of Vulnerabilities in OpenVPN

    OpenVPN, a popular open source virtual private network (VPN) system integrated into millions of routers, firmware, PCs, mobile devices and other smart devices, is leaving users open to a growing list of threats, according to a new report from Microsoft.

  • interconnected cubes and circles arranged in a grid-like structure

    Hugging Face Gradio 5 Offers AI-Powered App Creation and Enhanced Security

    Hugging Face has released version 5 of its Gradio open source platform for building machine learning (ML) applications. The update introduces a suite of features focused on expanding access to AI, including a novel AI-powered app creation tool, enhanced web development capabilities, and bolstered security measures.