Brian Lamb: Keeping Florida’s State University System at the top

I am proud to serve as board chair of the State University System of Florida alongside 16 other outstanding leaders committed to higher education. We are pleased to have retained our ranking as the No. 1 state in the nation for higher education.

With the support of our elected officials, our system received record funding last year. This enabled us to make tremendous strides, including the opportunity to invest in performance-based funding, retention and recruitment of faculty, and operational enhancements, which has benefitted all 12 institutions.

Affordability continues to be a priority particularly as we think about in-state students and remaining prudent with how we fund the long-term strategies for the SUS. We remain the lowest in the country for undergraduate tuition with 77% of our students graduating without student loans.

Our four-year graduation rates increased from 50% to 60% in the last five years. We continue to create access. Our Pell recipient enrollment is up to 39% and their four-year graduation rates have increased to 58%. Over 5,000 more African American and Hispanic students earned bachelor’s degrees in the most recent cohort, increasing their total to 30,000 annually.

Looking ahead strategically, our four focus areas will be: student success, faculty excellence, innovation and research, as well as good governance and efficient operations.

There are over 400,000 students in the SUS, each with dreams to transform their future and many, the first in their families to attend a university. This is why our No. 1 focus area is student success.

Our system has a heightened focus on student job readiness. To position Florida for global competitiveness and produce exceptional talent, we must deliver curriculum and programs that align to current and future workforce needs and provide opportunities for students to engage with top companies.

During the comprehensive review of the Programs of Strategic Emphasis, we collaborated with universities, the Florida Chamber, and the business community to ensure programs offered at our universities align with workforce needs.

Our second focus is faculty excellence. Across the system there are more than 19,000 faculty members. Our faculty has had a record year in awards and other national recognition. The Board of Governors has asked for an additional $100 million specifically focused on the recruitment and retention of world-class faculty to the SUS.

The third focus area is innovation and research. Our universities pushed our system to a record high in research expenditures of $2.5 billion, a 10% increase over the prior year. This year, we will explore other initiatives that can accelerate research spending, commercialization and job creation in the state. Other initiatives include advancing artificial intelligence, semiconductor industries and cybersecurity research.

My last focus area is around good governance and operational efficiency. We have a responsibility to be good stewards of our state’s resources. Through prudent governance, sound financial discipline and regulation management, we can accomplish this goal.

Accreditation was a top consideration in 2023 and continues to be a strategy that all our institutions and the BOG will be focused on. We underwent an extensive process, in collaboration with Education Commissioner and BOG member Manny Diaz and the Florida College System, to identify a list of accreditors suitable for our institutions. This new list maintains high standards, addresses university concerns, and improves costs.

Our bold governance policies ensure our institutions are committed, first and foremost, to student success, to civil discourse, and to a high ROI for those investing in the SUS. Additionally, they ensure that our students and faculty are encouraged to share productive, and often debatable thoughts for the purpose of learning and ultimately contributing to the economy and a healthier community.

By prioritizing student success, faculty excellence, innovation and research, and good governance and operational efficiency we can remain No. 1.

As a system, we are “Better Together, and Together We Are #1!”

University of South Florida graduate and Tallahassee native Brian Lamb is chair of the Florida Board of Governors (BOG) and previously served as chair of the Board of Trustees at USF.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Brian Lamb: Keeping Florida’s State University System at the top