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The College of Hawaii Board of Regents at a particular assembly Friday will weigh how the college ought to develop in its numerous roles:
Indigenous-serving establishment, supplier of on-line schooling, provider of the state’s workforce, and extra.
Board Chairman Randolph Moore says the aim is for the regents to generate added course for the college because it creates a brand new strategic plan for 2023 to 2029.
Public testimony is invited because the regents focus on the way forward for the 10-campus state college. The agenda, which is broader in scope and imaginative and prescient than is typical for the board’s common month-to-month conferences, consists of subjects and questions corresponding to:
>> Primarily based on what Hawaii wants from UH 10 years from now, how ought to the college assist to get there?
>> UH as an Indigenous-
serving establishment.
>> UH’s function in addressing inequities in Hawaii.
>> The way forward for on-line
schooling.
>> Are the UH mission
and imaginative and prescient nonetheless responsive
to right now’s world?
>> Are the board of regents committees and agendas optimally organized?
The assembly shall be a chance for the neighborhood and regents to step again and envision how the college can higher serve the state, Moore stated.
The query of what the state wants from UH is a wide-open subject, Moore stated.
For instance, he stated, “What function does the college have in creating jobs? Does the college have any function in addressing the housing drawback? Any function in any respect in addressing inequality that’s current in society? Has the college any function in any respect in getting a good, much less
costly, more practical legal justice system?”
UH is federally designated as an Indigenous-serving establishment. In its newest accreditation by the Western Affiliation of Colleges and Faculties, the Manoa campus was praised for its progress in that space, however Moore stated it nonetheless must evolve.
The regents will take a look at such points as whether or not UH ought to do extra to make Native Hawaiian college students and college proportionate to the final inhabitants, he stated, but in addition might think about whether or not the college has “a higher function to play in addressing longstanding unresolved points that come from the American affect, overthrow and annexation.”
In the meantime, the “intense interval” of digital studying in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic has elevated demand for on-line programs even because the illness tapers off, Moore stated. Not solely should the college now take a look at how that impacts course choices, but in addition, “What are the implications for our bodily plant if half the scholars are on-line? We gained’t want as a lot footprint,” he stated.
The college, which has practically 46,300 college students and 9,200 workers, is aiming to generate the brand new strategic plan for board approval by the tip of this yr.
The agenda, supplies packet and livestream for the digital particular assembly at 9 a.m. Friday may be discovered on the board’s web site.
Testimony may be submitted on-line by way of the board of regents web page, e-mailed to
bor.testimony@hawaii.edu, mailed to 2444 Dole St., Bachman 209, Honolulu, HI 96822, or faxed to 808-956-5156.
Written submissions upfront are most well-liked, Moore stated. These eager to current oral testimony should register on-line by 7 a.m. Friday and shall be restricted to 3 minutes per particular person.