EMILY REID/Arizona Daily Wildcat Steven Warner, a second-year pharmaceutical science graduate student, conducts research on pancreatic cancer Tuesday. A plan proposed by President Likins could make research a top priority.

"Changing Directions" plan would reinvent UA as a more research-oriented institution

The Arizona Board of Regents will meet today to discuss changing the missions of Arizona's three public universities, possibly making UA more selective in admissions and tuition more expensive.

Since the possibility of differentiating the missions of each university was proposed at the regents' retreat in August, President Peter Likins has been working to develop a new goal for the institution with the Faculty Senate, the Strategic Planning and Budget Advisory Council and ASUA, Likins said in a memo sent to the UA community on Sept. 17.

If the regents approve the universities' plans, UA would become more research-oriented, Arizona State University would become the state's largest university by many more students, educating the majority of Arizona residents on its three campuses, and Northern Arizona University would become a primarily liberal arts institution.

If you go... The Arizona Board of Regents will meet in the Student Union Alumni Lounge at Arizona State University on Thursday from 10 a.m. to 4:15 p.m. and Friday from 10 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

If Likins' plans are put into action, UA would concentrate on protecting departments that bring in research dollars and other funding, limiting enrollment and raising admission standards.

Since the initiative, dubbed "Changing Directions," is in the early planning stages, the regents don't have specific ideas for all the changes that would take place at UA if they were to adopt the new missions.

ABOR President Jack Jewett has expressed interest in changing missions and tuition policies at the three state universities and thinks it is especially important given the recently shrinking state funds dedicated to the university system, said Matt Ortega, Arizona Board of Regents spokesman.

"(Jewett) wants to decrease (the universities') reliance on the legislature," Ortega said.

The universities would need to find sources for additional revenue if the ideas proposed in "Changing Directions" receive board approval.

If UA cuts enrollment, the formula for funding UA that is currently based on how many students are enrolled would need to be changed, or the UA would lose state funding.

A tuition hike may be in order, said student regent Matthew Meaker, of UA, and Regent Chris Herstam.

Arizona's tuition rates are ranked 49th in the country. Without changing ABOR policy, the board could feasibly increase tuition to 33rd or 34th in the country without violating the state constitution.

ABOR will discuss changing its tuition policies at its meeting today, though the final tuition levels will not be set until spring.

Chances are good that tuition throughout the Arizona university system could increase, and "it's a big possibility that it will not be a small increase," Meaker said.

If there is an increase in financial aid, including waivers for students who cannot afford higher tuition rates, the possibility that the regents will agree on a tuition hike is very likely, Herstam said.

ABOR is looking into technology transfers, which allow universities to share patents for a profit and voter initiatives to augment tuition revenues and get more money into the university system, he said.

"It's important to identify other sources of revenue," Meaker said. "We are not looking solely to tuition."

While ABOR will not be taking action on the plans at their meeting tomorrow, they will be studying the ideas presented by the university presidents and the feasibility of the plans.

In order for the plans to become a reality, the plans for each institution must be complementary; that is, where one institution lack,s another excels, Meaker said.

"I felt that (the plans) were complementary," he said.

Meanwhile, Herstam said that the entire "Changing Directions" initiative would need to be carefully analyzed to make sure it complies with the State Constitution.

Tomorrow at the meeting, the three university presidents will also present their budget requests for fiscal year 2004 to the board, and will discuss raising academic standards for student athletes.