Student retention and graduation rates both are rising at Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) Universities. So are the number of students transferring from community colleges and the number of students taking courses via distance education.

The number of accredited programs offered by the Universities also is increasing, as is private giving to help provide more student scholarships, expand technology and build better classrooms.

PASSHE is well on its way toward achieving a majority of the goals set out two years ago in the State System’s long-range strategic plan titled Leading the Way. The plan, which ties together PASSHE’s System Accountability and Performance Funding programs, established a series of performance targets in four key areas: student achievement and success, University and System excellence, Commonwealth service and resource development and stewardship.

The performance targets were intended to be “challenging yet achievable long-term goals” for the Universities to strive to achieve by 2009. Some of the goals already have been met; others, actually exceeded.

“In the area of student achievement and success, our four-year graduation rates already were well ahead of the national average for regional, public universities. We are widening that lead,” PASSHE Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs Peter H. Garland recently reported during a meeting of the Board of Governors. “We have had 29 academic programs accredited in the last year and 59 others are currently under review. The diversity of our student population is increasing, as is the quality of our faculty.”

The Universities combined already have surpassed goals set in areas including distance education, private giving and instructional cost. Systemwide, the number of students enrolled in distance education courses increased by more than 40 percent last year. Private fundraising is at an all-time high and the Universities are becoming more successful in obtaining research grants, including recent awards from the National Science Foundation and U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Through greater utilization of collaborative purchasing and the implementation of a variety of energy-saving initiatives, the Universities have been able to control and, in some areas, reduce their operating costs.

They Universities already have met or nearly met 17 of the performance targets established as part of the System Accountability Program and included in PASSHE’s strategic plan.

“The performance targets were developed to establish specific expectations for our Universities in the most important areas of what we do,” said PASSHE Chancellor Judy G. Hample. “They were designed to encourage continuous improvement in each of these areas. We have made significant progress in virtually every area. By achieving these goals, we will be better serving our students and the Commonwealth.”

PASSHE’s commitment to accountability and its System Accountability Program has become a national model for assessing institutional performance over time.

“There is no question that it is helping drive our Universities to new levels of academic and operating excellence,” Hample said.

PASSHE annually awards “performance funding” to the Universities for demonstrating success and continued improvement in key areas related to student achievement, University excellence and operational efficiency. This year the Universities will receive a combined $37.4 million in performance funding, based on their own improvement on a set of eight groups of performance measures, on how well they performed compared to their own set of peer institutions outside of PASSHE on those same measures, and, on their performance in relation to the Systemwide goals.

With more than 109,000 students, the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher education in the Commonwealth. The 14 PASSHE universities offer more than 250 degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. More than 405,000 PASSHE alumni live and work in Pennsylvania.

The state-owned universities are Bloomsburg, California, Cheyney, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock, and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania. PASSHE also operates branch campuses in Clearfield, Freeport, Oil City and Punxsutawney and several regional centers, including the Dixon University Center in Harrisburg.