West Virginia University President Gordon Gee ended his state tour at Ohio University on Monday to discuss the costs of higher education.
Gee, along with the Ohio Board of Regents, visited five other locations in the state, ending at OU, in order to gain opinions on affordability of higher education from higher education leaders, primary education administrators and counselors, and business executives in the Southeast Ohio region.
“If we want to start looking at a high-quality higher education system in this country, we have to have a different set of questions, which is how do we maintain quality while decreasing or moderating our costs,” Gee said.
Gee and the board are
creating a set of recommendations to encourage those in education and other industries to better communicate about what skills are needed in the job market, said Jeff Robinson, the board’s director of communication.
“It’s not a new conversation,” said David Thomas, Faculty Senate vice chair. “It’s a difficult series of issues, and it’s not even one issue.”
The meeting was closed at the board’s request, in keeping with those at the other locations, to allow invitees to express their opinions freely, said Eric Burchard, OU’s director of government relations.
“We could’ve communicated that better on the front end,” Burchard said.
@DanielleRose84
dk123111@ohiou.edu
