OSU’s Gee says collaboration future of higher education

LIMA — A successful collaboration between Ohio universities to get $400 million from the state's construction budget is an example of what can happen when higher education comes together, The Ohio State University President Dr. E. Gordon Gee said while in Lima Tuesday.“We either hang together or we are going to hang separately,” said Gee, who was asked by Gov. John Kasich to organize state universities to come forth with one capital budget request. Kasich signed the capital bill last month, with Gee by his side.“The power of the capital bill was not so much that we got something done, but the fact that we did it together,” he said. “I think that sets a new standard and model for what we can do.”The collaborative model, Gee said, can be used to work on state retention and graduation rates as well. Kasich also in his state of the union address asked Gee to bring schools together to work on ways to increase the state's graduation rate.“One of the things I really like about the governor is he is asking us to be his partners in solving our own problems, whether than having it mandated or dictated,” he said. “And I think that is a very mature and thoughtful way of thinking about managing universities.”High-quality teachers and high-quality efforts to prepare students for college, Gee said, will positively impact graduation rates. Smaller campuses such as OSU-Lima helps.“One of the things we learn is that when you can have a smaller campus that can be very cost-effective and can give a high-quality, grounded eduction, it really does increase the possibility for them to graduate on time,” he said. Gee spent the afternoon meeting with incoming OSU-Lima students and their parents, visiting with theater students and the cast of “Company” and talking with students who participated in the Undergraduate Research Forum. His last visit to the Lima campus was in April 2011.As students continue to tackle more debt and schools receive less money from the state, Gee said schools are going to have to first simplify and then ask some fundamental questions about what their roles are. “We have to make ourselves much more simple,” he said. “We don't need to be Noah's Ark. We don't need to do two of everything. ... Are we in the business of education, or are we in the business of running airports, golf course, etc.? I believe our business is ultimately to support the faculty, staff, students and 11 million Ohioans. We are asking really fundamental questions about the structure and function of the way the university operates.”Seven percent of the university's budget comes from the state. The school's smaller campuses such as OSU-Lima have a different funding model than the main campus. Gee would like to see that change. “I would ultimately like to have one budget and one funding model for all parts of the institution,” he said. “That way we can be much more cost-effective and dynamic in terms of the way we manage our budgets.”Keeping education affordable continues to be a challenge, but Gee said Ohio State is in much better shape than many across the country. He expects a modest tuition increase in the fall.While he does not envision it happening soon, Gee supports the idea of differential tuition, where schools charge tuition at different rates according to how much each course costs the institution to teach. “We need to think of all sorts of ways to make certain students are paying for what they receive and that we don't have a Robin Hood effect here,” he said. “That people are really getting the kind of results from the resources available.”