The need for the Vermont State Colleges system to create a more user-friendly, one-stop-shopping website is one of the issues a new long-range planning committee has listed as a priority.
The Community College of Vermont, Vermont Technical College and Castleton, Johnson and Lyndon state colleges make up the VSC system.
Chancellor of the Vermont State Colleges Jeb Spaulding addresses the House Appropriations Committee. Rep. Mary Hooper, D-Montpelier, listens. File photo by Amy Ash Nixon/VTDigger
“Oftentimes we do hear from people that it’s a lot of work to check out what each one of (the colleges in the VSC system) has to offer, and we want to make it easier for our customers,” Spaulding said of the need to improve the online presence for the VSC system. “Everybody supports that concept, and a renovated website is definitely part of the answer.”
The online coordination is part of the larger discussion about how the VSC may operate more as a unified system, Spaulding said.
“I think we need to decide what the basic model is … before we revamp (online), we’re wrestling with how to do that,” Spaulding said of the bigger picture — how the VSC system might be structured under one umbrella to help strengthen the overall system.
The online piece is an important part of that discussion, Spaulding said.
There are models other state college systems look to for ideas, he said.
Trustees weigh in
“If it’s not modern, if it’s not cool, if it’s not easy to navigate, they’re going to move onto the next website,” said VSC trustee Mike Pieciak at a recent meeting of the long-range committee.
Trustee Karen Luneau spoke as a shopper, looking for a program.
She said she would want to see an easy way to search throughout the VSC system for an accounting program, for example.
“This is too much work,” Luneau said of the way the VSC websites are now; separate for each VSC school, and not coordinated across the system.
Committee member and VSC trustee Jim Masland, said the idea to be able to search for a specific degree across the VSC system, “is an excellent idea.”
The future success of the VSC system is directly linked to the websites’ functionality, said Masland.
Another example was making the online opportunities across the VSC system for veterans returning to college easier to navigate.
Tying the Web presence together across the VSC system could also be cost-effective, added Spaulding, asking, “Do we need to do that five times?”
“Make no mistake, we’re selling a product, and when you’re selling a product, you have to make it enticing and you have to make it easy. You don’t want to make it hard for someone to do business with you,” Luneau said. “The kind of brand I would like to see us end up with would be clean, wholesome, reliable, easy to do business with, but you’re going to end up with a product — you’re going to end up with a career.”
Castleton University proposal up Thursday
The long-range planning committee will hold its second meeting Thursday, with another four-hour session from noon to 4 p.m. at the VSC offices in Montpelier.
A topic raised at the first meeting of the committee this month, whether to rename Castleton State College as Castleton University, will be back on the discussion table, Spaulding said.
Spaulding said a few out-of-state experts who have “been in the business for a long time,” will attend.
They will “share their perspectives on both of those questions,” the interconnecting of the VSC colleges and the question about making Castleton a university, said Spaulding.
Adding a university to the VSC system could bring an added level of prestige, as well as help Castleton to attract international students and more grant money for research, but there are also concerns about how the change may affect Johnson and Lyndon state colleges, raised earlier this month.
“I think there is pretty much unanimity on the board that we should try to evolve into a more cohesive, interconnected model, and the question is are we going to go to the Penn State university model?” asked Spaulding.
That model is one accredited university with 24 college campuses, all under the Penn State umbrella.
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