Austin, Texas - October 27-28, 2004
Accountability in higher education is becoming increasingly important, as policy makers, citizens and educators want to know more about the return on their investment in higher education, how these investments are improving institutions, and how the compact between higher education and the public can be changed and enhanced.
On October 27-28, 2004, The University of Texas System hosted a unique national symposium on accountability, deregulation, and institutional improvement in higher education. The state's first accountability symposium drew leaders in the field, with keynote addresses by Dame Marjorie Scardino, president of the media group Pearson (which owns the Penguin group, educational testing companies, The Economist and The Financial Times), Margaret Spellings, Assistant Domestic Policy Advisor to President George W. Bush, and University of Virginia President John Casteen. Other speakers – leaders in higher education and public policy – came from the Florida Board of Education, the University of Georgia System, the University of Colorado, California State University, and major national higher education think tanks and policy groups.
More than one hundred higher education, business, and civic leaders from Texas and the United States attended and participated in discussions about the symposium's four major themes:
- Sharpening the focus of higher education accountability approaches;
- Looking at accountability from multiple perspectives of business, public policy, and higher education, and providing a forum for a national discussion that crosses the different perspectives' boundaries;
- Sharing best practices and highlighting ways in which accountability systems are being used to improve institutions; and
- Enhancing credibility by establishing a vision for accountability-based improvement in higher education.
Printed copies of the proceedings are available by request. Please contact Paula Bales by email or by phone at (512)499-4798.
