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June 27, 2011

ULM receives top rating in Board of Regents review

The University of Louisiana at Monroe has received the highest rating possible by the Louisiana Board of Regents during their institution-by-institution review of the requirements set forth in the GRAD Act.

The board recently reviewed the performance outcomes of ULM and other universities according to the provisions of the GRAD Act (Granting Resources and Autonomies for Diplomas), which was signed into law last summer by Gov. Bobby Jindal.

The act targets four areas of continuous improvement — student success, articulation and transfer, workforce and economic development, and institutional efficiency and accountability — in order for schools to retain tuition authority and autonomy eligibility.

ULM earned a 102 out of 100 in the student success category and a perfect score in the other three performance goals.

"What these excellent scores point to, especially in the student success category, is that we've gone above and beyond in providing resources and programs that are assisting our students in meeting their goals," said ULM President Nick J. Bruno.

"Resources such as our Clarke M. Williams Student Success Center and the Emerging Scholars Program are key factors in our exceptional ranking in the student success category."

Bruno also praised "the dedication of our faculty and staff who work hard to ensure our students are successful while also serving the needs of the north Louisiana area, in particular, and the state in general."

At the end of the scoring process, each institution was given one of four possible evaluations — green, yellow, orange or red — based on the score for each performance objective.

This year every institution received a designation of green, which indicates the institution passed the student success objective and two or three other GRAD Act performance objectives.

Under the GRAD Act, Regents entered into six-year agreements which set institution specific targets, including annual performance measures that result in educational improvements by the end of the timeline.

Regents are monitoring the annual performance of each institution and submitting a report to the legislature and the governor no later than July 15.

Regents may revoke a GRAD Act agreement with a college or university at any time for failure to abide by the terms.

Institutions submitted system-certified annual reports to Regents in May which were reviewed by staff for completeness as well as data verification before being read and scored on up to 56 individual measurements.

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