June 25, 2012
Higher education report card highlights three PASSHE programs
Contact: Kevin Hensil, khensil@passhe.edu
Harrisburg – While giving Pennsylvania mixed grades for overall performance, a new state-by-state report card on public postsecondary education highlights three Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) initiatives.
The report card prepared by the Institute for a Competitive Workforce, an affiliate
of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, specifically mentions in the Pennsylvania section
of the report PA Universities Online, which serves as a portal for online courses
and programs offered by the 14 PASSHE universities; the Pennsylvania Transfer and
Articulation Center, which provides students a course equivalency guide for transferring
individual courses; and PASSHE’s nationally recognized performance-funding program.
The three highlighted PASSHE initiatives are included in the report’s sections on
policy environment and innovation.
Pennsylvania’s grades range from A to F in the report. It takes into account pricing
policies and initiatives not only of the 14 PASSHE universities, but also of the four
state-related universities – Penn State, Temple and Lincoln universities and the University
of Pittsburgh – and their branch campuses and the state’s 14 community colleges.
The Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education is the largest provider of higher
education in the Commonwealth, with nearly 120,000 students. The 14 PASSHE universities
offer degree and certificate programs in more than 120 areas of study. About 500,000
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.