Educational Opportunities
- Executive Summary
Affordable, geographically accessible, and culturally-relevant educational opportunities are critical to prepare a diverse workforce for the 21st century. UTRGV will expand such educational opportunities for residents of the Rio Grande Valley, spanning from pre-K to postdoctoral education, and directly addressing the UT System’s Quantum Leaps of Student Success, The American Leadership Program, and the Texas Prospect Initiative. Innovative new certificate, Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral programs will be developed to prepare students for careers and life-long learning, boost the region’s economy, on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, and build environmental, health, and social resilience. New faculty will be recruited strategically to create new doctoral programs. Flexible faculty workload policies will be established to enable, facilitate, and incentivize the development and implementation of innovative pedagogies and technologies that address distance, language, culture, and class-scheduling barriers, ensuring access for a diverse student body. Support for graduate students and post-docs will be generated to position the university as an emerging research institution.
- Goal
Strategically expand educational opportunities from pre-K to post-doc to increase experiential learning, research, creative endeavors, and community-engaged scholarship for people in the Rio Grande Valley and beyond.
- Key Initiatives
- Strategically expand existing and establish new Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctoral programs to prepare a 21st century workforce and address local and global challenges, including economic and environmental resilience, sustainability, and health and well-being. (See Appendix H for a list of undergraduate and graduate programs UTRGV expects to develop during the next five to ten years.)
- Increase access to educational programs through the development and implementation of innovative pedagogies and technologies that address distance, language, culture, and scheduling barriers.
- Strategically increase high quality educational opportunities and mentoring programs for pre-K to 12 students to increase college preparedness particularly for STEM, health, and medical fields.
- Create and expand educational programs that incorporate experiential learning opportunities and promote engaged research and creative works through community partnerships.
- Sample Metrics
- Number of Doctoral, Master’s, and Bachelor’s degree programs.
- Percent of graduate students among the total student population.
- Percent of courses offered in hybrid or online format, or through non-traditional scheduling.
- Number of PhDs awarded.
- Number of pre-K to 12 students involved in UTRGV initiatives to increase college preparedness.
- Number of Doctoral, Master’s, and Bachelor’s degree programs.