2020 January e-news
Collectively the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC) creates solutions that build higher education’s capacity to better serve individuals, institutions, and states by leveraging the region’s resources, expertise, ideas, and experiences through multi-state: convening, programs, research, and contracts. These efforts drive MHEC’s outcomes.
POLICY & RESEARCH
Regional Compacts Collaborate to Support a National Network for the Scaling and Adoption of OER
College and university leaders are working across state lines to reduce barriers faced by students and to empower faculty with access to a wide range of instructional materials. The Midwestern Higher Education Compact and its sister regional higher education compact organizations the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE), Southern Regional Education Board (SREB), and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) and WCET (WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies) are exploring the development of a national network to support scaling and adoption of Open Educational Resources (OER). READ FULL NEWS RELEASE
MHEC’s Multi-State Collaborative on Military Credit and NCHEMS Collaborate on Competency-Based Education and Learning Research, funded by AIR
MHEC is pleased to announce its receipt of grant funds from the American Institutes for Research (AIR) for joint research with the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems (NCHEMS) on a 13-state review of policies and implications of military transcript and experience review. This research project is part of the National Research Collaborative on Competency-Based Education and Learning at AIR.
“Policymakers should be very interested in the outcomes of this work,” stated Susan Heegaard, MHEC president. “With states varying in their development and implementation of policies related to higher education, especially as it relates to the review of military transcripts, this study is looking at what policies are in place, how they are interpreted by state agencies, and the impact these policies are having on the states.” READ FULL NEWS RELEASE
CONTRACTS
MHEC Renews Contract for Research and Advisory Services
MHEC has renewed the Info-Tech Research Group contract for research and advisory memberships, best practice development programs, and consulting services through December 31, 2020. Eligible entities in the MHEC region include colleges, universities, K‐12 districts and schools, cities, states and local government. The contract is also available to these same entities of MHEC's sister compacts in the New England Board of Higher Education, the Southern Regional Education Board, and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. Access the list of available contracts on our website or contact Nathan Sorensen, director of government contracts, with additional questions at (612) 677-2767.
ARTICLES & RESOURCES OF INTEREST
Liberal Arts Pay Off in the Long Run
Inside Higher Ed | January 14, 2020
A First Try at ROI: Ranking 4,500 Colleges
Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce | 2020
ROI of Liberal Arts Colleges: Value Adds Up Over Time
Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce | 2020
MHEC LEADERSHIP COMMUNITY
Team Updates
Susan Heegaard, MHEC president, will be joined by executive officers and MHEC staff at upcoming confirmed state visits with state higher education, legislative, and executive branch leadership starting with Kansas on January 21-22, Iowa on January 28-29, Missouri on February 3-4, Illinois on February 4-5, Nebraska on February 10-11, and South Dakota on February 19-20.
President Heegaard will also participate in the NC-SARA Strategic Planning meeting in Washington, D.C., on January 30.
Nathan Sorensen, MHEC director of government contracts, will attend the Higher Education User Group (HEUG) Elevate Cloud Symposium 2020 on January 20-21, at Oracle’s Santa Clara California Campus. HEUG is the worldwide community for enabling the sharing of knowledge and practices to maximize institution investment in higher education information systems.
Sara Appel, manager of the Multi-State Collaborative on Military Credit will present Overcoming the Hurdles Involved with Licensure and Certification to Achieve Success on February 3, at the 2020 NASPA Symposium on Military-Connected Students to be held on February 2-4, in Seattle. She will also attend the College Board and Ithaka S+R convening Improving College Opportunity for Veterans Convening on February 10-11, which will be focused on military-connected students.
Emily Jacobson, associate director of M-SARA, will attend the NC-SARA Directors Meeting on February 10-13, in Boulder.
Jennifer Dahlquist, vice president, and Carla Ahrens, property program manager, will attend the annual Marsh Consortia Summit on behalf of MHEC’s Master Property Program on February 18-19. This event provides leaders from key insurance consortia the opportunity to connect with peer groups and share best practices.