Last week, the Board of Visitors submitted to the Virginia Department of Education a comprehensive and concise evaluation of the present status and future goals of every facet of the University.
The agreement is designed to eliminate the need for state universities to lobby every year in front of the General Assembly, instead allowing them to better plan for the long term by increasing their state funding schedule from one year to six.
The 43-page evaluation makes up a negotiable draft of the University's experimental Institutional Performance Agreement, or IPA, with the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The IPA eventually will travel to the General Assembly, which will decide whether to approve the agreement.
The IPA is one of the proposals to come out of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Higher Education, which was formed by Governor James S. Gilmore III in 1998 to examine and improve the quality of higher education in Virginia.
"The concept is greater accountability on the part of the University in exchange for more autonomy and a more reliable base of funding," said Board member Gordon F. Rainey, Jr., a member of the Blue Ribbon Commission.
In the IPA, the University must agree to meet certain performance measures set by the Commonwealth. Meanwhile, the Commonwealth commits to maintain certain funding levels, agreed to in advance, over the next six years.
The agreement "encourages institutions to do their planning on a long-term basis," said Leonard W. Sandridge, executive vice president and chief operating officer.
University Rector John P. Ackerly III said the IPA would be an improvement over the current system of receiving funding on a yearly basis, which inhibited the University's ability to make long-term plans because of financial uncertainties.
Rainey said the Blue Ribbon Commission was concerned with the competition inherent in the General Assembly's yearly funding system, in which colleges with more political clout and lobbying finesse often end up with the most money. He said the IPAs are an attempt to separate funding from politics.
The University is one of five Virginia public universities to participate in the pilot program for long-term funding agreements.
George Mason University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia State University and Norfolk State University also are participating.
The University's IPA has been sent to the Department of Education. But there is no guarantee the General Assembly will endorse the long-term agreement system, despite the governor's strong endorsement of the policy.
Rainey said each university will negotiate with the Department of Education until both sides reach an agreement.
The IPAs will then be sent to the General Assembly for approval.
The General Assembly first must decide whether it supports the concept as a whole.
If it approves the practice, it will accept or reject each IPA on an individual basis.
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