Higher-education supporters have formed another new group that aims to pressure the Legislature to be more generous with education funding.

Earlier this year, University of Washington alumni formed a group, UW Impact, to push for more funding for the university. Both Washington State University and Western Washington University are following suit with groups of their own.

The newest group, the College Promise Coalition, was announced Tuesday. It’s an umbrella group that includes public colleges and universities, faculty and student groups, business leaders and education organizations. “This is a broader statewide coalition that will help play a coordinating role” among all the different groups, said spokesman Sandeep Kaushik.

The coalition plans to hold events and rallies in Olympia during the legislative session, Kaushik said, and “make some noise about higher education” and the cutbacks the state’s institutions face.

The coalition is concerned that Gov. Chris Gregoire is downplaying the size of the cuts to higher education proposed in her budget, Kaushik said. Gregoire has said her cuts would trim higher education by 4.2 percent, when tuition increases are taken into consideration.

The coalition says the cutbacks are closer to 8 to 12 percent. The higher number includes a proposed 3 percent salary reduction for state employees, and a proposal that would shift the burden of funding faculty and staff retirement plans to the colleges and universities.

Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposals to slash state spending on higher education has triggered anxiety across California’s already budget-battered public colleges and universities about possible new waves of staff and faculty layoffs, reductions in class offerings and higher tuition bills.

Administrators said it was too soon to say definitively how they would respond if the Legislature approves the $1.4 billion in proposed state funding cuts for the University of California, California State University and the state’s community college system. But they predicted that daily life at the schools would surely suffer in various ways, including more-crowded classes and less pristine campuses.

“It’s not so much the quality of instruction but the quality of the overall educational experience for these students” that may be affected, said Steve Boilard, higher education director at the state Legislative Analyst’s Office,

Among the most concrete predictions came from California Community Colleges Chancellor Jack Scott, who said the cutbacks will mean, in effect, that about 350,000 students will not be able to enroll in any classes at those 112 schools.

UCLA students go through commencement last June. Even before Gov. Jerry Brown’s budget proposal, UC leaders had decided to raise annual undergraduate tuition for the 2011-12 year by 8%. (Luis Sinco, Los Angeles Times / June 10, 2010)

“We just can’t keep doing more with less,” Scott said Tuesday. “This is really sad because we are going to turn away students we would love to educate.”

The governor’s plan also calls for community college fees to rise from $26 per credit unit to $36, which Scott noted would still be among the lowest in the nation.

At Los Angeles City College on Tuesday, psychology student Nela Laveni said higher fees would mean requesting additional hours at her part-time job at an insurance office to continue her schooling.

“That’s the main reason people decide to come here, because it’s so much cheaper,” said Laveni, 18, who is in her first term at the college. “That might be too expensive for me.”

Instructors at the college said they wondered which materials and course offerings would be cut next. Last year, for example, the school’s business department ran out of money for the paper used for teaching and for exams. Now, instructors either buy it with their own money or ask students to bring their own, the teachers said.

Rob Sambrano, who has taught computer and business courses at the college for six years, said the budget cuts and fee increases could keep students from enrolling and improving their job skills during sour economic times.

“A lot of people that are unemployed and looking for work, they’re turning to us to get some skills under their belt and return to the job market,” he said. “And what are we doing? We’re cutting back.”

UC leaders already had decided to raise annual undergraduate tuition for the 2011-12 year by 8%, or $822, to about $11,124, not including campus fees or living costs. That is about triple what it was a decade ago, although financial aid will shield many students from the latest increase.

The university’s regents are not likely to seek an additional tuition increase for the current school year or for the fall unless voters in June reject the governor’s proposal to extend several tax measures, said Patrick J. Lenz, UC’s systemwide vice president for budget. But if the tax plan collapses, he said, “options that may not be very palatable today become more realistic.”

Lenz said it was probably too late in the UC admissions process for enrollment for this fall to be substantially reduced. However, the number of slots for midyear transfer students could be cut, and the freshmen numbers for 2012 might be affected too.

Rather than revive last year’s required furlough days for most faculty and staff, the most likely scenario to cope with the $500-million proposed reduction in state funding for UC’s 10 campuses would be layoffs, he said. And programs deemed not essential to the university’s teaching and research missions “are going to be subject to a great deal of scrutiny and are at jeopardy of being closed.”

At California State University, Chancellor Charles B. Reed said officials would consider reducing enrollment, eliminating classes, laying off staff, furloughing employees and increasing class sizes to address the proposed $500-million loss in state support.

Less likely, Reed said Tuesday, are further tuition increases at the 23-campus university. In November, Cal State trustees approved a 5% increase for winter and spring terms this year and an additional 10% boost for fall 2011. That will bring undergraduate tuition to $4,884, in addition to campus fees that average about $1,000.

Cal State had been ramping up enrollment by 30,000 students for this spring after two years of cuts. The governor’s budget proposal means the system once again is likely to have to restrict enrollment for fall 2011, Reed said.

Overall, the cuts will lead to a lower quality of education for Cal State’s 433,000 students, Reed predicted. “In the end, we won’t be able to provide access to as many students, students will not get the kinds of services and classes and sections they deserve and that they are paying for,” he said.

Via:Los Angeles Times

Overview
The University of Seoul has been providing higher education opportunities since its foundation in 1918. As a public institution, the University of Seoul is committed to addressing the social, regional, technological, and creative issues of the urbanized world. It has thus dedicated itself to cultivating leaders who will shape the urban future of Korea and the world. The University of Seoul insists on quality and breadth, committed to both theory and practice, and endorses an openness towards students, unique among Korea’s elite institutions. With more than 10,000 students enrolled, the University of Seoul consists of seven undergraduate colleges and almost 90 fields of study in the Graduate School. It offers courses of study in eight schools and twenty seven departments.

University of Seoul
서울시립대학교
Motto Truthness, Creativity, Service
진리·창조·봉사
Established May 1, 1918 as Keijo Public Agricultural College
March 1, 1956, Re-established as a university
Type Public
Endowment N/A
President Lee Sang Bum
Faculty 372 (2008)
Staff 229 (2008)
Students 15,058 (2008)
Undergraduates 12,193 (2008)
Postgraduates 2,865 (2008)
Location Dongdaemun, Seoul, South Korea
Campus Urban
270,600 m²/66.87 acre
Colors Blue
Mascot Hawk
Website www.uos.ac.kr

Institutions
KAIST was founded with government funding and was initially staffed with a number of Korean engineering and science talents educated in the United States. From the onset, the emphasis has been in theoretical as well as applied research. KAIST continues to be Korea’s foremost center of strategic R&D projects. The University helped pioneer the establishment of competitive research oriented graduate school programs in Korea.

The University’s some 540 faculty conducts research in cooperation with academics and industries all over the world. KAIST offers grants and fellowships to international students.

The President of KAIST, Nam Pyo Suh, is an authority in axiomatic design technology. Soon-Heung Chang, a nuclear scientist, serves as Provost and Ji-won Yang, a chemical engineer, as Vice President for external affairs.

The University has for many decades, recruited faculty from overseas. The current KAIST President Nam Pyo Suh taught for many years at MIT. His predecessor, Robert Laughlin, a Nobel Prize laureate and a physics professor from Stanford University, was the first foreigner to head a Korean university. Professor Emeritus Cho Jang Hee, was a dual professor at both Columbia, New York, and KAIST, and played major role in the development of the PET scanning technology.

The vast majority of professors come from US higher education institutions. The school engages in many international programs with leading European and Asian universities. The university is a member of LAOTSE, an international network of universities in Europe and Asia. It is also a member of the Association of East Asian Research Universities.

KAIST
Established February 16, 1971
Type Government-run
President Nam-Pyo Suh
Faculty 526 (as of September, 2009)
Staff 322 (as of January, 2008)
Students 8,929 (as of September, 2009)
Undergraduates 3,839 (as of September, 2009)
Postgraduates 2,213 (as of September, 2009)
Doctoral students 2,877 (as of September, 2009)
Location Yuseong, Daejeon, South Korea
Campus Urban
1,432,882m² (Daedeok Campus)
413,346 m² (Seoul Campus)
Affiliations AEARU, LAOTSE, AOTULE
Website http://www.kaist.edu

Throughout its history, Seoul National University has been regarded as the most eminent of all post-secondary educational institutions in South Korea. It is regarded as the most renowned university by the general public and recruits top-notch high school students. To join the international trend of learning, the university’s faculty includes more than 350 foreigners, which is about 10 per cent of the total. Nobel laureate Paul Crutzen and Fields Medal recipient Hironaka Heisuke are on the faculty roster.

Today Seoul National University comprises sixteen colleges and six professional schools, with a student body of about thirty-thousand. It has two campuses in Seoul: the main campus in Gwanak, and the medical campus (named Yeongeon Campus after its neighbourhood) in Jongno. SNU is notable for its “fleet-style”[citation needed] system, offering diplomas for virtually every academic field, from aerospace engineering to Western history.

Seoul National University
서울대학교
Latin: Universitas Nationalis Seulensis
Motto Veritas lux mea
(Latin, literal translation: “The truth is my light”. non-literal: “The truth enlightens me”.)
진리는 나의 빛
Established 1946
Type National
Endowment KRW 134.2 billion
(USD 145.6 million)
President Lee Jang-Moo, Ph.D.
Faculty 2,064[3] (2008)
Staff 991[3] (2008)
Students 26,605 (2008)
Undergraduates 16,006
Postgraduates 10,559
Doctoral students 2,602
Location Gwanak, Seoul, South Korea
Campus Urban, 1.4 km² (350 acres)
16.57 km², including the arboretums and other campuses.
Colors Blue
Mascot Crane
Affiliations AEARU, APRU, BESETOHA
Website www.snu.ac.kr

St Andrews is a member of the 1994 Group, a network of smaller research-intensive British universities.

University of St Andrews
Latin: Universitas Sancti Andreae apud Scotos
(University of St Andrew amongst the Scots)
Motto ΑΙΕΝ ΑΡΙΣΤΕΥΕΙΝ (AIEN ARISTEUEIN) (Greek: Ever To Be The Best)
Established 1410–1413
Type Public university
Endowment £34.8 million
Chancellor Sir Menzies Campbell
Rector Kevin Dunion
Principal Dr Louise Richardson
Staff 1,804 (all)
817 (academic)
Students 8,645
Undergraduates 6,760
Postgraduates 1,885
Location St Andrews, Fife, Scotland, UK
Colours University of St Andrews
St Mary’s College
Bute Medical School
St Leonard’s College
Affiliations 1994 Group
Website st-andrews.ac.uk

Founded in 1895, the School joined the federal University in 1900 as the Faculty of Economics, beginning to issue its degrees from 1902. Today it remains a specialist single-faculty constituent college of the University, the only such institution in Britain. It describes itself as “the world’s leading social science institution for teaching and research”.

The School is a member of the Russell Group, the European University Association, Association of Commonwealth Universities, the Community of European Management Schools and International Companies, The Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs and Universities UK as well as the Golden Triangle of British Universities.

London School of Economics and Political Science
Arms of the London School of Economics and Political Science
Motto Latin: Rerum cognoscere causas
Motto in English “To Understand the Causes of Things”
Established 1895
Endowment £56.9m
Chancellor HRH The Princess Royal (University of London)
Director Sir Howard Davies
Visitor The Lord President of the Council ex officio
Staff 1,303
Students 8,810
Undergraduates 3,860
Postgraduates 4,950
Location London, England, UK
Coordinates: 51°30′50.40″N 0°07′0.12″W / 51.514°N 0.1167°W / 51.514; -0.1167
Campus Urban
Newspaper The Beaver
Clare Market Review
Colours Purple, Black and Gold
Mascot Beaver
Affiliations University of London
Russell Group
EUA
ACU
CEMS
APSIA
RISE[6]
‘Golden Triangle’
Universities UK
Website http://www.lse.ac.uk

The University grew out of an association of scholars in the city of Cambridge that was formed, early records suggest, in 1209 by scholars leaving Oxford after a dispute with local townsfolk there. The universities of Oxford and Cambridge are often jointly referred to as “Oxbridge”. In addition to cultural and practical associations as a historic part of British society, the two universities also have a long history of rivalry with each other.

Academically, Cambridge is consistently ranked in the world’s top 5 universities. It has produced 83 Nobel Laureates to date, more than any other university in the world according to some counts.

Description of University of Cambridge

Latin: Universitas Cantabrigiensis
Motto: Hinc lucem et pocula sacra (Latin)
Motto in English: From here, light and sacred draughts (literal)
From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge (non-literal)
Established: c. 1209
Type: Public
Endowment: £4.1 billion (2006, incl. colleges) ($7.9 billion)
Chancellor: HRH The Duke of Edinburgh
Vice-Chancellor: Alison Richard
Staff: 8,614
Students: 18,396
Undergraduates: 12,018
Postgraduates: 6,378
Location: Cambridge, England, UK
Colours: Cambridge Blue
Athletics: The Sporting Blue
Affiliations: Russell Group
Coimbra Group
EUA
LERU
IARU
Website: http://www.cam.ac.uk