Universities prepare for more students
8:56 AM
Posted: Friday, October 03, 2008
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) -- The head of the Board of Regents says South Dakota's public universities generally have the facilities in place to handle the kind of enrollment growth that was reported this week.
Enrollment for the fall semester is up 2.5 percent from last year at the six campuses. Enrollment has grown for 11 straight years to a record 32,943 for the fall semester.
It might require more professors and creative uses of space, but "I think each of our campuses has capacity to do the instructional mission of the university without adding significant resource demands on the system," said Tad Perry, executive director of the state Board of Regents.
Enrollment increases were reported by every campus except the School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City, which has nine fewer students than a year ago.
"Maybe we have to use our classrooms a little differently, maybe we have to hire additional faculty to accommodate growth, but generally the facility capacity is available at our campuses to handle this kind of growth," Perry said.
A year ago, the regents adopted an aggressive plan to upgrade science and research centers and to build labs on some of the campuses. That project is designed to complement a growing emphasis on graduate programs and research projects in public higher education.
If recruiting targets are met in the coming years, enrollments should continue to rise, in spite of a flat or falling number of K-12 students in South Dakota, university officials say.
South Dakota State University, which recorded a student head count of 11,995 this fall, anticipates bringing at least another 1,000 students to campus within four years.
"We're right on line in the pursuit of our strategic comfort enrollment number of 13,000-plus by the year 2012," SDSU President David Chicoine said.
Chicoine said the SDSU campus is feeling the pinch in areas.
"We're able to accommodate the growth so far," he said. "We are now running our lab facility from 7 in the morning to 10 at night and on Saturday mornings, so we're just about maxed out in some of our unique instructional facilities."
At the University of South Dakota, plans are to add about 1,000 more students in four years, President Jim Abbott said.
"Our stated goal is 11,000 students by 2012," he said.
The Vermillion campus had a fall head count of 9,291 students.
Abbott anticipated that completion of a new student center, the laboratory projects and a wellness center that's "on the drawing board" will draw students to the campus in coming years.
Enrollment for the fall semester is up 2.5 percent from last year at the six campuses. Enrollment has grown for 11 straight years to a record 32,943 for the fall semester.
It might require more professors and creative uses of space, but "I think each of our campuses has capacity to do the instructional mission of the university without adding significant resource demands on the system," said Tad Perry, executive director of the state Board of Regents.
Enrollment increases were reported by every campus except the School of Mines and Technology in Rapid City, which has nine fewer students than a year ago.
"Maybe we have to use our classrooms a little differently, maybe we have to hire additional faculty to accommodate growth, but generally the facility capacity is available at our campuses to handle this kind of growth," Perry said.
A year ago, the regents adopted an aggressive plan to upgrade science and research centers and to build labs on some of the campuses. That project is designed to complement a growing emphasis on graduate programs and research projects in public higher education.
If recruiting targets are met in the coming years, enrollments should continue to rise, in spite of a flat or falling number of K-12 students in South Dakota, university officials say.
South Dakota State University, which recorded a student head count of 11,995 this fall, anticipates bringing at least another 1,000 students to campus within four years.
"We're right on line in the pursuit of our strategic comfort enrollment number of 13,000-plus by the year 2012," SDSU President David Chicoine said.
Chicoine said the SDSU campus is feeling the pinch in areas.
"We're able to accommodate the growth so far," he said. "We are now running our lab facility from 7 in the morning to 10 at night and on Saturday mornings, so we're just about maxed out in some of our unique instructional facilities."
At the University of South Dakota, plans are to add about 1,000 more students in four years, President Jim Abbott said.
"Our stated goal is 11,000 students by 2012," he said.
The Vermillion campus had a fall head count of 9,291 students.
Abbott anticipated that completion of a new student center, the laboratory projects and a wellness center that's "on the drawing board" will draw students to the campus in coming years.
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