The Illinois Board of Higher Education discussed its concern about preparing students for higher education at its Aug. 14 meeting at the Palmer House Hilton in Chicago, said Jeff Cross, associate vice president for academic affairs.

“The board feels there’s too much remediation that’s required when students get to college,” Cross said. He represented Eastern at the meeting, as President Bill Perry and Provost Blair Lord were both unable to attend.

A presentation was given at the meeting about how prepared students are for higher education after leaving the K-12 system in Illinois. IBHE plans to address the issue in the coming year in hopes of increasing student readiness for higher education, Cross said.

Eastern currently offers non-credit courses designed to prepare students for college-level work. Cross said student preparedness is an issue that all Illinois higher education institutions will address with IBHE.

Also at the meeting, IBHE discussed a statewide plan for higher education in Illinois, Cross said.

“The board feels it’s been quite a while since attention was paid to a comprehensive statewide plan,” Cross said. “They expect to do some things on that this coming year.”

Mention was also made of a statewide security task force, Cross said, with a possibility of all hazards training exercises on Illinois university and college campuses this year.

“I think a lot of the heightened interest and concern in these areas has been brought on by the tragedy that occurred at Virginia Tech last spring,” Cross said.

Also, some agenda items were postponed at the meeting because the state budget had not been finalized at the time of the meeting, Cross said. Grant recommendations could not be made to the board. Plans for further action after the postponement were not made, Cross said.