San Antonio is 'Closing the Gaps' in education
(Nov. 14, 2002)--San Antonio area colleges and universities are embarking on a motivational campaign this fall to increase student enrollment in response to declining rates of individuals pursuing higher education in Texas. The "Closing the Gaps" campaign is part of a statewide effort to bring 300,000 additional students to the expected 200,000 growth in student population at Texas colleges, universities and technical schools by 2015.
The statewide launch of the campaign will occur in November throughout the state. The San Antonio kick-off celebration will be at 10:30 a.m. Nov. 15 at the Institute of Texan Cultures. Keynote speakers will include Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff and John Montford, former Texas senator and chancellor of the Texas Tech University System and now senior vice president for external affairs of SBC Communications Inc. There will be a special performance by singer Patsy Torres.
According to the 2002 Closing the Gaps progress report conducted by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB), the state has not met its student participation and success goals in higher education. In Texas, the number of people pursuing higher education is lower than it was 10 years ago. Currently, only five percent of the total state population is enrolled in college.
The Closing the Gaps outreach effort is designed to motivate students to pursue college and to mobilize support groups to include parents, teachers, counselors, college leaders, community leaders and business partners in creating an environment that promotes higher education.
"We'll be reaching out to all Texans -- especially families with no previous college experience -- to give them vital information about the value of higher education, how they can prepare for and succeed in higher education, and the many ways they can get financial aid or otherwise pay for college," says campaign director Lynn Denton of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. Commissioner of Higher Education Don Brown also added that the state must educate its increasing minority student population.
Initially funded and authorized by the Texas Legislature, the campaign was adopted in October 2000 by THECB to close educational gaps in four areas: student participation, student success, excellence and research. The first goal of student participation is to increase enrollment rates among minority students across Texas, adding 500,000 more students by 2015. The second goal is to increase the number of degrees, certificates and other measures of student successes by fifty percent. The third goal is to increase the number of nationally recognized programs or services at colleges and universities. The last goal is to increase the level of science and engineering research funding to Texas institutions by fifty percent to reach $1.3 billion.
For more information about the Closing the Gaps campaign in San Antonio, call John Hammond at (210) 733-2147 or David Gabler at (210) 458-4550.
Vist the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board Web site.
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San Antonio is 'Closing the Gaps' in education
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© The University of Texas at San Antonio, 2002