Designing State Higher Education Systems for a New Century

Book excerpt: The authors explain how various state governance structures influence the way priorities for higher education are established. Based on a study conducted by the California Higher Education Policy Center, now The National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, this study examines whether existing state higher education structures are adequate given the economic, social, and technological challenges of the 1990s and the first decades of the 21st century. The study also explored whether these structures are prepared to handle the changing student population as well as what appears to be an unprecedented period of increased demand for higher education in some states. The book contains comparative case studies of higher education systems in seven large and diverse states: California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New York, and Texas.