One word: quality: The University most focus on maintaining academic quality to preserve the value of a UNC diploma

As the school year comes to a close and planning begins for the next one, administrators at the University must keep academic quality on the top of their agenda.

With budget cuts — and more are coming, by the way — the task of keeping the University a top-of-the-line institution doesn’t look like one to envy.

But that can’t be used as an excuse. In order to preserve the value of a UNC degree, administrators must make academic rigor a priority.

The mission must begin with recruiting and retaining quality faculty.

Teachers are the bread and butter of the academic experience and need to be given top priority.

Efforts like the $5.5 million program to recruit and retain young faculty members are encouraging.

And while the budget situation is less than ideal, UNC is still much better off than a lot of its peer institutions. The University has the opportunity to really make its mark in hiring the brightest Ph.D. students coming out of graduate schools this year.

Grade inflation is another issue the University must tackle in the coming years.

Faculty members made headway when they approved a proposal to put grade distributions onto students’ transcripts.

But the University still can do more.

As it implements the proposal, UNC must also encourage peer institutions to adopt similar measures to ensure that graduating UNC students are not left at a disadvantage when applying for employment or graduate programs.

And once campus entertains a more broad discussion of grade inflation, more meaningful actions against it can be pursued.

A third step toward maintaining academic quality is bolstering programs that allow undergraduates to take the initiative with their education.

For example, the Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence provides many research opportunities of which students can take advantage.

These types of programs should become a more integral part of a UNC education.

It’s important the University does not lose sight of its core purpose: to teach and educate North Carolina’s workforce.

With that in mind, the University must keep academic quality a top priority.