The status of undergraduate education is on the table at today’s Board of Regents meeting.

Where Regency schools stand on improving students’ college experiences was among the topics discussed at Wednesday’s sluggish board committee meetings at NIU.

NIU Associate Provost Lou Jean Moyer told the Academic and Student Affairs Committee about NIU’s continuing and planned efforts to make the campus a “purposeful community” and ease the transition from high school to college.

The NIU Undergraduate Coordinating Council coordinates the work of six committees to examine topics like admissions, curriculum and academic environment, Moyer said. Also, the council is looking into a cultural diversity course requirement.

Furthermore, NIU officials are considering a “university experience course” which would make leaving high school and beginning college easier, Moyer said.

However, NIU’s 10 core-admission requirements will increase to 15 by the fall semester of 1992, when Illinois Board of Higher Education changes take place.

About 8 percent of applicants have not taken the needed courses for NIU, she said.

Transfer students with Associate in Arts or Sciences degrees enter NIU as juniors meeting all general education requirements, Moyer said. The policy might be changed to ensure students take courses that help them in college rather than simply fill requirements.

NIU math professor Robert Wheeler, who served on IBHE’s Committee on the Study of Undergraduate Education, said a statewide system of course requirements should be used.

The board meets today at 9 a.m. in the Holmes Student Center’s Sky Room.