UIA - Carnegie Corporation

UIA - Carnegie Corporation UIA - Carnegie Corporation The University Innovation Alliance (UIA) is the leading national coalition of public research universities committed to increasing the number and diversity of college graduates in the United States. Since our launch in 2014, our 11 member institutions have been relentless in pursuit of strategies that increase the number of first generation and low-income students enrolled in, succeeding in, and graduating from college. Our work is evidence-based, open, innovative, intentional, high energy, and story-driven. Shifting demographics, a challenging public policy landscape, and persistent inequality in national postsecondary success highlight the need for this kind of work. While our individual members have made significant progress improving student success for low-income students on their campuses, national outcomes continue to lag. Many lawmakers openly question the value of a college degree, and public disinvestment in higher education continues unabated. It is therefore a core responsibility for the academic community to demonstrate the importance of degree completion to the competitiveness of our economy and to the personal success of individuals by reducing barriers to entry for all qualified students and by ensuring that those same students are successful in school and in the workforce. The UIAs accomplishments prove that we have the will and the means to do so. In just five years, the UIA has established an impressive record of successful collaboration, scaled initiatives, and broad impact. What began as a theoretical concept has grown into a nationally recognized community of practice driving institutional transformation and student success. Together, UIA campuses have increased overall degree productivity, and most importantly, they have increased degrees to low-income students awarded annually across the UIA by over 30%. The UIA has also galvanized a national conversation about student success improvement and collaboration as a means of accelerating innovation. Our work has garnered substantial interest from media, policymakers, federal lawmakers, and over 120 institutions and consortia that have asked to join the UIA as members. Looking forward, the UIA is now poised to evolve and dramatically expand our impact on the higher education sector. A $750,000 investment from will help make this vision a reality through the pursuit of three key aims: 1) Broaden the number of public research universities who are UIA members beyond the 11 founding institutions, expanding the number of institutions collaborating to scale innovations and drive improvements in student attainment across the country; 2) Establish a new membership tier and diffusion stream (the University Innovation Network or UIN) to engage additional institutions in the UIAs work, particularly those that may not have the resources or meet criteria for UIA membership; 3) Become financially sustainable by generating member fees to support core operations, prioritizing philanthropic dollars for support of initiatives and special projects. When the UIA first launched, we set a public goal to collectively award an additional 68,000 undergraduate degrees above baseline over ten years, with half of these awarded to students from underrepresented backgrounds. Today, the UIA has already granted 53,200 additional degrees in only six years, and is on-track to exceed its original ten-year goal by 90%. More importantly, since 2012-2013, UIA institutions have increased the number of degrees awarded annually to low-income students by 32% and students of color by 56%. As we celebrate the success UIA institutions have achieved together, we are poised to expand our impact even further. The UIA is committed to narrowing national attainment gaps by race and income by deepening our engagement with additional likeminded institutions. As we evolve and grow, we will also build a sustainable model for the ongoing operation of our network.