Additional Activities

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In addition to SCHEV's assigned responsibilities through state code, the Council works on activities that may be assigned through legislation, received through a grant, recommended through the Council or suggested by an advisory committee or group.

The following is a list of additional activities SCHEV is working with related links as appropriate.

Summits and Events

For the last several years, SCHEV has hosted summits on research, quality and college access, success and completion. To see information on recent summits, click on the links below.

2022

March 9, 2022 -SCHEV-OVAC Open Education Week Event
This event provides four virtual tours of courses utilizing Open Education Resources (OER) and/or Open Pedagogy. Webinar recording: http://hdl.handle.net/10919/109647

2021

July 2021
Director Peter Blake's letter to staff regarding educational leave

Studies

SCHEV may conduct studies at the request of the General Assembly or through other initiatives. The following is a list of active studies.

The State Council of Higher Education, in consultation with representatives from House Appropriations Committee, Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee, Department of Planning and Budget, Secretary of Finance, and Secretary of Education, as well as representatives of public higher education institutions, shall review methodologies to determine higher education costs, funding needs, and appropriations in Virginia. Our website has more information on this cost study.
The Virginia College Access Resource Study (2017) is a major research effort designed to learn about college access needs and resources at school divisions across the Commonwealth. The study, conducted in partnership with Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium, aims to update and build upon research on college access by creating a comprehensive directory of Virginia college access provider organizations and identifying trending issues and concerns in college access in Virginia.

Research & Reports

Investigations

Progress reports from the 2021 VMI investigation by Barnes & Thornburg are available below.

The final report from Barnes & Thornburg, its appendices and exhibits, released June 1, 2021

VMI Special Investigation Team Final Report
Please Note: The appendices and exhibits below are an integral part of the report. Please be sure to review each of them as they represent the totality of the report.

Appendices

Exhibits

Presentation

VMI Presentation June 1, 2021

Grants

Grants SCHEV has several active grants to support a variety of initiatives, including the following:

Equity Grants: $725,000 from Indianapolis-based Lumina Foundation in February 2021 to support efforts to advance equitable postsecondary outcomes across the Commonwealth’s institutions of higher education. This Equity Institutions grant complements a $500,000 Talent, Innovation, and Equity (TIE) Partnership grant that Virginia received from Lumina in 2019.
Strada Recovery Incubator Grant: In the fall of 2020, SCHEV and a group of partners received a Recovery Incubator Grant from Strada Education Network, a national nonprofit focused on improving pathways between education and employment. Through this grant, we are supporting several activities that follow from the recommendations of our recent report on Higher Education and Workforce Alignment. These activities include: (i) developing the implementation plan for the Office of Education and Labor Market Alignment; (ii) demonstrating COVID-related early successes through regional projects; and (iii) developing an asset-map / success-story playbook for GO Virginia Regions 4 (CCWA) and 6(RCC) where the regional projects are focused. SCHEV's partners include: DHCD (Go Virginia), VCCS, VEC and VEDP.
GEAR UP: This is a national grant from the US Department of Education to support a cohort of students. For more information, go the GEAR UP page.

Virginia Indigenous Nations in Higher Education (VINHE) Collective

VINHE is a new collective convened by SCHEV that will serve as a conduit of communication and collaboration between higher education and the Commonwealth’s Tribal Nations. The collective is dedicated to supporting Indigenous access and equity in higher education through collaborative instruction, research, engagement, and capacity building activities. Members of the collective include representatives from tribal nations, higher education institutions, and other stakeholders and organizations.

History
VINHE was developed following the first Virginia Native Nations Higher Education Summit in March 2023, where representatives from Virginia’s tribes, higher education institutions, and other partners gathered to build partnerships and discuss how higher education can better meet the needs of tribal nations.

The summit identified six focus areas for the collective: