ADHE director addresses NPC denial
The director of the Arkansas Division of Higher Education says the ADHE’s coordinating board likely had doubts that a bachelor’s degree in nursing at National Park College would impact the nursing shortage in Hot Springs when it rejected the college’s scope-change proposal last week.
“NPC currently offers an associate level (registered nurse) degree and has been unable to fill that program,” ADHE Director Maria Markham said this week. “I do not believe that the board was confident that expanding the scope of degrees at NPC would attract any additional nursing candidates.”
She said the coordinating board had conflicting information regarding the need for Bachelor of Science in Nursing RNs over Associate Degree in Nursing RNs.
“Both hold the same license and have the same scope of practice,” she said. “In the absence of compelling data to support such a substantial departure, I think the board was hesitant to set a precedent for approving changes based on anecdote.”
Friday’s decision by the board was followed up Monday with an announcement by Henderson State University to cut several undergraduate degree programs, but Markham said she did not think the deep cuts had any bearing on the decision.
“I think the larger concern was that adding another BSN program would exacerbate the already meager enrollment in many other state-funded programs,” she said.
There are currently 13 BSN programs operating in the state, which are being offered in multiple formats including online, on-site, hybrid, and some physically located on community college campuses, she said, and all of them have excess capacity.
This does not serve as a signal for community colleges to stop pursuing four-year degrees, she said, noting she believes it encourages them to present “thoughtful proposals in coordination with going concerns both for their regions and the state.”
“I am certain that there will be proposals in the future and I will give each proposal both critical and data informed consideration. From my conversations with coordinating board members, there is energy to continue the conversations about potential role and scope changes as the nature of higher education continues to evolve,” she said.
“The rejection of this proposal simply illustrated that the process worked as it should and the board acted as good stewards of scarce state resources and in their charge to truly coordinate the efforts of our public institutions.”
Arkansas has yet to join the 24 other states in the country that allow community colleges to offer applied bachelor’s degrees. Markham said she believed those moves made sense, considering the access provided in those states.
“I am in favor of applied bachelor’s degrees at community colleges on a limited basis and in consideration of Arkansas’s existing higher education landscape,” she said.
Florida allows community colleges to confer bachelor’s degrees in areas of high need such as teaching and nursing, she said, noting it is important to remember Florida has a population of 21.48 million people over 65,758 square miles being served by 12 public universities and 28 public colleges.
“Arkansas has a population of 3.018 million over 53, 179 square miles with 10 public universities and 22 public colleges. Access to higher education in Arkansas is rarely a barrier due to the geographically strategic locations of our institutions and broad adoption of distance learning modalities. That being said, there are absolutely circumstances that would necessitate the need to expand the role and scope of a community college,” she said.
Should an accreditor or professional licensing body enhance the requirement of an occupation to require a bachelor’s degree that was previously offered at the associate level — and that program represents a significant part of the supply of Arkansans to that field — expansion would be critical for that community college, Markham said.