The Baton Rouge Area Chamber today released a research paper focused on improving the academic standing of Southern University’s Baton Rouge campus. Among the report’s recommendations and suggested goals:
— Phase in higher admissions standards, including a strict minimum ACT score. Currently, students with low ACT scores can still get into Southern, based on their grade point average or class rank, which BRAC’s research suggests hurts graduation rates. The report does not say what the minimum score should be.
— Track students who drop out of the university, address retention issues, and develop a way to reach out to dropouts as candidates for re-enrollment.
— Develop dual- and cross-enrollment programs with community colleges, and improve community college transfer programs.
— Implement an aggressive campaign to raise the university’s endowment.
— Develop academic and research programs aligned with the state’s “Blue Ocean” economic diversification strategy.
— Pursue public-private partnerships that could create jobs, thereby garnering industry and state support.
BRAC sees two possible paths for dealing with enrollment declines caused by tougher admission requirements. One requires an aggressive recruitment campaign to replace those students. The other involves eliminating some programs and focusing resources on areas in which the school is most competitive. The report says if programs like engineering, science and select humanities were the primary focus, Southern would complement Dillard and Xavier, smaller, private Louisiana universities that are also historically black. To see the full report, click here. —David Jacobs
