We stand at a point of change. A new wave of students is coming to higher education. By 2010, total higher education enrollment in the state of Washington is expected to grow by nearly 40%, from 220,000 to 303,000. These students are more diverse, with more complex needs and aspirations than those who have come to us in the past. This is the next generation of students to be educated.
The University of Washington has been asked to provide access to an additional 20,691 students by 2010, to be distributed roughly equally across our three campuses. Total enrollment would rise from 32,919 Annual Average Full Time Equivalent students (AAFTEs) to 52,500; enrollment served by the Seattle campus would rise from 31,297 AAFTEs to 39,000.
Opportunity for the next generation of students and opportunity for the University are bound together. A research university is a very special institution -- a place where knowledge is created, as well as transferred. As the leading research institution in an entire quadrant of the nation, the University of Washington has a unique role to play -- not only in graduate education and research, but also in undergraduate education, leadership and economic development. Increasing numbers of students will arrive, hoping for the chance that education promises. The way in which we respond will determine the University's future. Our challenge is to respond consciously and actively, seizing this opportunity to shape the University of Washington into an institution that even more effectively serves the needs of the state, the nation, and the world. To succeed, both for our students and for our University, will require no less than we have given in the past:
Our challenge is to find the right answers to three questions. How are we to:
These are difficult questions to answer. Finding solutions that answer all three questions may be possible some of the time but not all of the time. The practices that move us to each of these three ends are often contradictory. The complexity of our university ensures that any action will have unanticipated consequences. For these reasons, planning should be grounded in clearly stated and widely discussed principles.
