Most Floridians expect that over the next decade, the state’s colleges and universities will be viewed as one of the best systems in the country, according to new survey results from the UF/IFAS Center for Public Issues Education.
PIE Center researchers asked state residents for their opinions of public higher education in Florida as the Morrill Act, federal legislation that created the land-grant university system, nears the end of its 150th anniversary. Respondents, 523 Floridians ages 18 and older, weighed in on issues such as affordability, impacts on employment and personal experience.
Nearly 62 percent of Floridians who participated in the online survey felt that Florida’s higher education system is headed in the right direction. Residents currently perceive Florida’s colleges and universities as average compared with higher education systems across the country, but respondents felt the state’s system will become more prominent in the next 10 years.
However, respondents did not have as favorable an outlook about the last decade, said Alexa Lamm, an assistant professor who designed the online survey.
While the majority of those surveyed said the state’s higher education is doing a good or excellent job at providing academic programs that meet the needs of the state’s workforce, 65 percent of respondents believed Florida’s colleges and universities are operating at the same or worse level than they were 10 years ago.
