Equal Opportunity Fund enrollments have risen, supported by our increase in funding for this nationally regarded program. The Presidents' Council has been truly inclusive and has established a peer review process for new programs that is faster than the old process. Meanwhile, the Commission on Higher Education has taken on tough issues ranging from accountability to the development of a statewide master plan. As important, the new structure has fostered innovations and collaborations throughout the state. The Richard Stockton State College, for instance, now issues a regular report informing parents, students, and the community about average test scores of incoming students, affordability, student diversity, graduation rates, and placement rates of graduates.
New partnerships abound.
The New Jersey Institute of Technology and Burlington County College joined forces to create the Technology and Education Center in Mount Laurel - southern New Jersey's first engineering school. And Thomas Edison State College, which began operating the State Library last year, is working with Bell Atlantic to hook up New Jersey's county and municipal libraries to the Internet. This partnership will enable every public library in New Jersey to give citizens access to a whole new world of information. On the subject of partnerships, William Sofer, a molecular geneticist at Rutgers University's Waksman Institute, and colleague George Pallrand believe that young people learn science best by doing team research. Their goal is to give all students, no matter where they live, the opportunity to interact with Rutgers researchers.