JULY 19, 2015 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JULY 19, 2015, 12:35 AM
BY PATRICIA ALEX
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Kean University is launching an expensive architecture program, largely tailored to foreign students, at its Union campus despite another public one just 6 miles away at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
The technology institute, virtually across the street from Rutgers Medical School in Newark, is considering partnering with Rowan University, just south of Philadelphia, to train doctors.
A new public business school is opening in Jersey City even as others in nearby Newark and Montclair are spending millions to beef up their programs.
If it seems like there’s no statewide plan for higher education in New Jersey, it’s because there isn’t, and recent decisions by the schools have raised questions about whether weak state oversight has allowed for expensive and duplicative projects that have helped make the state home to some of the highest public tuitions in the nation.
The politically appointed boards that run the state-subsidized colleges and universities have a degree of autonomy unheard of in most other states. And with no resistance from state officials, the boards have approved costly and controversial projects.
Stockton University bought an $18 million former casino it is now unable to use; Montclair State University agreed to spend $250,000 on a statue of its mascot and Kean purchased a multimedia conference table from China for $219,000, prompting a state investigation.
Like hospitals, our public umiversities should be managed somthat they offer the best programs at the best location.
Why do we need a school of architecture that serves mostly international students?