Southeast Missouri State University to cut degrees

EDITOR'S NOTE: The headline has been changed.

Adios, Spanish. Au revoir, French.

Southeast Missouri State University is eliminating bachelor of arts degrees in Spanish, French and German, part of an extensive, statewide degree program review aimed at taking out low-producing degree programs and making Missouri higher education more efficient.

Missouri's colleges and universities will terminate 119 programs, or 20 percent of all degree programs identified for review. Institutions will move 24 programs to inactive status, and 175 programs were flagged for follow-up review in three years, according to a report released this week from the Missouri Department of Higher Education.

"Low-producing programs" are defined by the Coordinating Board for Higher Education's policy as those producing fewer than 10 graduates per year at the baccalaureate level, five majors per year at the master's degree level and three majors per year at the doctoral degree level, calculated over a three-year average.

The majors will be phased out so students currently enrolled in the degree programs can graduate.

Gov. Jay Nixon ordered the review last fall.

29 programs reviewed

At Southeast, 29 degree programs were reviewed; of those, four will be deleted -- administration systems management, French, Spanish and German. The university also is discontinuing management information systems, although that was not identified on the Coordinating Board for Higher Education's list. Ten other programs will be reviewed.

Southeast president Ken Dobbins said the review process was good for universities and community colleges.

"It was a very positive review, and I think it got the higher education community thinking about what we should we be offering for every degree at every university," Dobbins said.

The evaluation was nothing new for Southeast, which has had an academic program review initiative in place since 2003.

The university isn't doing away with the foreign languages. Instead, the programs will be rolled into a broader bachelor of arts in global cultures and languages. The new degree was developed in response to the accelerating interdependence of societies, cultures and economies, according to the university.

"This new BA incorporates the aforementioned BAs into one major, with options in Anthropology, French, German and Global Studies," according to Southeast's program application. "Existing courses and faculty will be used, with no additional costs anticipated."

Three Rivers Community College will eliminate two programs after reviewing 14, according to the Department of Higher Education report. Mineral Area College will not delete any programs.

Missouri's four-year institutions will end 73 degree programs, and the state's two-year institutions will end 46 programs.

Crucial fields

Commissioner of Higher Education David Russell said the review also identified serious problems in the state's system of postsecondary education.

"Many fields that have been identified as crucial to the state's economic growth and global competitiveness were among the low-producing degree programs," Russell said in a news release. "Foreign languages, teacher education and the STEM fields -- science, technology, engineering and mathematics -- were prominent on the list of fields with few graduates.

"This is a concern that must be addressed across K-12 and higher education."

The report recommends steps to improve efficiency and productivity of academic programs at public institutions, including reforms in teacher education at the elementary and secondary levels. It also recommends collaboration among institutions, especially in foreign languages. Southeast and the area's community colleges have in recent years greatly expanded educational partnerships.

Dobbins said program reviews are part of Southeast's focus on preparing the university for the future student.

"One of the things we're looking at is how students will learn, what kind of educational programs will be needed and how do we continue to deliver quality education programs," he said. "It's difficult because technology has changed so rapidly, and these changes in how students learn we will have to address."

mkittle@semissourian.com

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