Douglas Alexander: “our country does not have just some of the best colleges and universities in the world. It has almost all of them. Our…”

“our country does not have just some of the best colleges and universities in the world. It has almost all of them. Our higher education system is our secret weapon in America's competition in the world marketplace. It is the cornerstone of the brainpower advantage that last year permitted our country to produce thirty percent of the world's wealth, measured by gross domestic product-- for just 5 percent of the world's people. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, to her credit, established a commission 2 years ago to examine all aspects of higher education to make certain that we do all we can to preserve excellence in this secret weapon and access to it. Among other things, the commission called for more accountability in higher education. The commission got the part about accountability right. We in Congress have a duty to make certain that the billions we allocate to higher education are spent wisely. Unfortunately, the commission headed in the wrong direction when it proposed how to achieve accountability. In its report, and in the negotiated rulemaking process, the Department of Education proposed a complex system of accountability to tell colleges how to accept transfer students, how to measure what students are learning, and how colleges should accredit themselves. I believe excellence in American higher education comes from institutional autonomy, markets, competition, choice for students, federalism and limited Federal regulation.”