^^Agreed!
Here is my dream plan for public higher education in Arizona:
ABOR (total enrollment: 140K)
So you'd have ASU & UA as the main research type schools in the state. Having more schools available would (hopefully) mean ASU wouldn't have to be such a behemoth, and I'd like to see its enrollment go from its current 67K down to about 45K (between 2 campuses, main and downtown). Cap UAs total enrollment at about 40K.
NAU would continue its smaller research component and continue on about how its been. Cap their enrollment at about 25K.
Arizona Polytechnic University
Spin ASU Poly into its own independent school, something like
Cal Poly with maybe 20K enrollment.
Yuma & Phoenix State Colleges
Then for students just looking for bachelors degrees in things like teaching, business or liberal arts you'd have a school in Yuma and in NW Phoenix (ASU Wests current campus). Im not sure what good enrollments for them would be, probably between 15-20K each.
City of Phoenix: (total enrollment: 50K)
Then I'd like to see the city of Phoenix (which would maybe get money from the county or the Fed as well for this) start its own small university system like
CUNY.
Phoenix Institute of Technology
Convert the Arizona Mental Hospital site to a technical, engineering and medical school. This would fall within the 'opportunity corridor' plan the city once touted for biomed uses. Even with UAs medical school downtown it seems like we are still in a deficit in that department, so this may help. These City run schools would be much smaller, maybe 10K makes each.
Phoenix A&M
In Laveen where the agriculture lifestyle is still somewhat in existence, Id like an A&M school. Mining has always been and likely will always be very important to Arizona. The agricultural portion could focus on sustainable, desert agriculture which will be a major issue in the 21st century.
Encanto College
Then like Ive mentioned before on this board Id like to see a liberal arts school on the South end of the Fair grounds property (along with an expanded Encanto Park). It could maybe have as few as 5K students.
American Indian College
Then (this may be a silly idea) Id love to see the City buy the empty lots near Steele Indian School park. The lot on the NE corner of Central and Indian School and/or the lot on Central and Glenrosa and gift that land to the Native tribes of Arizona for the purpose of building a college. The Native American population has really struggled with higher education and perhaps this would be a way to help with that. Students going to the school could perhaps sign deals to use their degrees to work on the reservations for a certain number of years after they graduate. Phoenix wouldn't necessarily have to pay for the school (other than providing the land) it could be provided by the tribes themselves perhaps.
Of course a school only letting in one race of people wouldn't really be palatable to most folks these days, so Im not proposing that. They could let in anyone though perhaps have an admissions system that would make it easier for Natives to achieve higher education.
Anyway, my system or something like that would mean a lot more competition and choices for students. Instead of a huge number of young people fleeing the state to get an education (and many never coming back) perhaps we'd start to import people looking for an education.
Quote:
Originally Posted by glynnjamin
I'd also like I see them build that freaking proposed culinary school on 2nd Ave & Fillmore but that will never happen.
|
I dont think I ever heard about this proposal, have any more info?
EDIT: Plus the best thing about all of this would be, all these smaller schools we'd have a bunch of new small college basketball teams and that would be fun
