Don't miss out on joining nearly 1,500 of your colleagues and peers at higher education's premier planning event of 2010, SCUP–45. The Society for College and University Planning's 45th annual, international conference and idea marketplace is July 10–14 in Minneapolis!

Here's your SCUP Link to "The Association for Consortium Leaderhip (ACL)"

So, your president tells you that you are to begin touching base with a number of other higher education institutions about setting up a collaborative partnership, perhaps a regional university center where you can bring your university offerings to local students, using space on a community college. What do you do?

It turns out that there is an organization of others with similar needs, the Association for Consortium Leadership, with a pretty good range of professional development and resource connections:

The Association for Consortium Leadership (ACL) is a national association that provides a forum for higher education professionals involved in cooperative programs. ACL provides guidance in creating and strengthening partnerships whose members include colleges and universities. In addition to higher education institutions, these partnerships frequently incorporate government agencies, businesses,  K-12 schools, and other non-profit organizations.

The Association for Consortium Leadership has 60 members located throughout the United States. ACL is the only organization of its kind that focuses entirely on cooperation in higher education and provides in-service opportunities to its members.

ACL's Vision

Promoting and Supporting Higher Education Collaboration through Professional Development, Resource Sharing and Program Enhancement

ACL's Mission Statement

The Association for Consortium Leadership (ACL) promotes and supports higher education partnerships through professional development, resource sharing and program enhancement.

Don't miss out on joining nearly 1,500 of your colleagues and peers at higher education's premier planning event of 2010, SCUP–45. The Society for College and University Planning's 45th annual, international conference and idea marketplace is July 10–14 in Minneapolis!

Here's your SCUP Link to "University Centers"

"If you think the politics of a single university are interesting, try getting 14 together and see what happens!"

There appear to be many routes to the creation of a "university center." University centers are an attempt by community colleges to bring 4-year offerings locally, to its students. Once a student completes the associate's degree, they may lack a life situation that permits them to move and attend a 4-year institution. So, partnerships develop where universities, sometimes many universities, use community college space (or space, even a campus, built and designed for the purpose of partnership) to bring class offerings to local students. Veteran SCUP leader Arnie Gelfman's home institution, Brookdale Community College, has been a driving force behind such a partnership in New Jersey for quite some time.

According to the Association for Consortium Leadership (ACL) survey, there are at least 64 such partnerships, formally labeled "higher education center" in the US. The kinds of arrangements made, and how and by whom decisions are made, can be interesting.