Beginning next fall every undergraduate student at the University of Georgia would participate in a hands-on learning project before graduation, under a proposal announced by President Jere Morehead on Wednesday.
Morehead outlined the new experiential learning initiative in his state of the university address.This was Morehead's second time presenting the annual update. He became president of the state's flagship university in July 2013.
As part of the proposal, UGA students would complete some type of project, training or internship designed to connect classroom work with real-world experience. UGA would develop courses and activities, such as research projects, community service projects and international travel study that would fulfill the outside-learning requirement.
“To offer a tailored learning opportunity to each and every student at a major public research university would be extraordinary,” Morehead said.
The proposal was presented to a UGA curriculum committee last week. If approved by faculty, the program would be implemented with first-year students who enroll in fall 2016. More information — including how to fund the initiative — would be released in the next few weeks, he said.
In addition to touting UGA's initiatives and accomplishments, Morehead also echoed University System of Georgia Chancellor Hank Huckaby's warning to state lawmakers on Tuesday that a lack of salary increases for system employees had made it difficult to retain and attract top teaching talent.
Last year, full professors, on average, made 26 percent more at the University of Alabama than they did at UGA, Huckaby said, a reversal from 2001 when UGA’s salaries were ahead of Alabama’s.
The gap between UGA and its academic peers is why improving salaries for faculty and staff will remain a top priority for the foreseeable future, Morehead said.
Gov. Nathan Deal included about $11 million in next year’s budget for raises in the system. Huckaby called salary increases the system’s top priority this session.
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