
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, December 6, 1993                   TAG: 9312060061
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

GROUP OFFERS COLLEGES `A WAKE-UP CALL'

American colleges and universities don't prepare undergraduate students adequately to fill the needs of society, a panel headed by former Sen. William Brock says.

The Wingspread Group on Higher Education called on the colleges and universities to candidly reassess the way they do business.

"A disturbing and dangerous mismatch exists between what American society needs of higher education and what it is receiving," the group said in a report being released today. "Nowhere is the mismatch more dangerous than in the quality of undergraduate preparation provided on many campuses."

The group, comprised of educators, business and labor leaders, and former public officials, said its goal was not a single formula for solving the problems of higher education, given the diversity of higher education in America. Rather, it wanted to challenge the institutions to assess themselves.

Are they taking values seriously?

Are they putting student learning first?

Are they creating a nation of learners, collaborating with all other institutions involved in learning "to create a more seamless society of high-quality learning opportunities responsive to lifetime needs?"

Education Secretary Richard Riley called the report a "wake-up call." He acknowledged that the report will be uncomfortable reading for those in higher education.

by CNB