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Leaders of three national higher education associations that represent independent colleges and universities recently met to assess the progress of several cooperative initiatives undertaken in the past year. The joint projects are the result of a "Protocol of Collaboration" signed last summer by the boards of the Council of Independent Colleges, the Foundation for Independent Higher Education (FIHE), and the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU). NAICU concentrates on federal legislative and regulatory issues, while FIHE is an association of state fundraising associations. The Protocol is a formal agreement signed by the three organizations to work together more closely on joint projects and programs benefiting private colleges and universities. CIC President Richard Ekman met with counterparts Bill Hamm of FIHE and David Warren of NAICU in early July to take stock of progress in a significant number of cooperative initiatives. "Bill, David, and I were impressed by the ease with which we have been able to find areas in which to cooperate in less than a year," Ekman said. "Each of the projects we've undertaken is progressing successfully, and we look forward to additional work together." At the time the Protocol was being considered and approved by the respective organizational boards last summer, CIC and FIHE were already embarking on a joint application as institutional partners to the then-new Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching (MERLOT), an electronic clearinghouse and library of teaching and learning materials. Later in the summer, NAICU also became a MERLOT partner, as did the National Association of College and University State Executives. MERLOT is a free resource designed primarily for faculty and students in higher education to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning by expanding the quantity and quality of peer-reviewed online learning materials. The collection of these materials is growing rapidly—to such an extent that MERLOT soon will be established as a non-profit organization to advance the current collaborative framework and sustain the project. CIC also joined the existing partnership of NAICU and FIHE in conducting a set of public opinion surveys and focus groups last summer and fall and producing Independent Colleges and Universities: A National Profile, a booklet of facts and statistics that tells the story of America's private colleges and universities through six people with first-hand experience at these institutions. The Profile was widely disseminated this spring to private colleges and universities, the media, and others in higher education. And finally, as part of its technical assistance to corporations and foundations, CIC's CAPHE unit has been helping to review proposals and to evaluate funded projects for FIHE's UPS-endowed National Venture Fund (NVF) grant program. CAPHE staff is providing general consultative support to FIHE on the administration of the NVF program, and CAPHE's executive director, Michelle Gilliard, was appointed to the National Venture Fund's Committee, which oversees the program, reviews proposals, and awards grants. CAPHE already has conducted a comprehensive analysis of the first two years of the grant program and will design and administer a variety of evaluations of the ongoing NVF program at FIHE's request. CAPHE Evaluates Collaborative Ventures Program CAPHE recently conducted a study of the Teagle Foundation's Collaborative Ventures Program. The results of the study will be published in spring 2002. The study will reveal the ways in which private colleges, universities, and seminaries are collaborating with other institutions to maximize their resources and reconsider the ways in which institutions operate. Higher education researchers Mary-Linda Armacost, James Coriden, and Sharon Miller have been working with CAPHE to collect information from presidents, deans, faculty members, and other administrators involved in grant projects via telephone interviews, site visits, and roundtable meetings in Chicago, New York, Washington, DC, and Marco Island, FL. The research team also has interviewed leaders from a number of consortia involved in collaborations, including Five Colleges, Inc., the Independent College Fund of New Jersey, and several state associations. The published study, intended for institutional leaders and boards of directors, will tell the full story of what has been learned and the essential ingredients of forming and nurturing different kinds of collaborations. In addition, a workbook outlining the key "do's" and "don'ts" of collaboration will assist institutions in their planning efforts. A series of conference presentations also will be held, beginning in January 2002 during CIC's Presidents Institute in Fort Myers, FL. Independent |
