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.


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