The Louisiana Board of Regents adopted a new master plan for higher education Wednesday, outlining long-term goals for the state’s universities.
The new plan, which will replace a 10-year-old plan, must be submitted to the legislature by Sept. 1.
The 2011 master plan is designed to accomplish a number of goals by 2025, including investing strategically in university research and achieving greater efficiency and accountability in the postsecondary education system. The plan’s most ambitious and readily measurable goal, however, is educating enough of the state’s adult population to meet the Southern Regional Education Board average.
“Increased academic attainment is an important issue in our state,” said Larry Tremblay, Regents associate commissioner for Planning and Research.
According to Board of Regents Chairman Bob Levy, students’ dreams shifted from attending college to completing college.
“Today’s economy requires that students not only attend [college], they have to graduate,” Levy said.
The 2001 master plan achieved concrete progress, raising average ACT scores for Louisiana high school students from 19.6 in 2001 to 21.1 in 2011 and increasing the number of first-time freshmen enrolled in two-year or technical institutes from 21 percent in 2000 to 44 percent in 2010.
The 2011 Employment Outlook Report analyzing Louisiana employment data was also released at Wednesday’s meeting. The report compared the average salaries of associates and bachelor’s degree recipients after 18 months. The report found the associates degree completers earned, on average, $35,544 more than the bachelor’s completers’ average salary of $32,742.
In other action, the University of Louisiana at Lafayette received conditional approval from the Board for two new academic programs  — a graduate certificate in non-public schools: administration and a bachelor of science in health service administration.
“The program is viable and necessary,” Regents Vice-Chair Mary Ellen Roy said of the bachelor’s degree. “It is a unique program which would benefit the