The Illinois Board of Higher Education might vote to redefine its goals today at Eastern Illinois University at Charleston.

The IBHE committee on Scope, Structure and Productivity recommended changes in the goal statements of higher education in March. The new goal statement will be longer and address the priority of meeting special community needs.

The committee on Scope, Structure and Productivity also recommended the production of three annual reports to increase Illinois universities’ accountability.

Universities would publish an annual “consumer” report for students and parents and a “productivity” report for the IBHE. The IBHE would then publish a “condition of higher education” report.

A report on trends in Illinois student financial aid also will be presented. The report states that aid to public university students has increased at a far slower rate than aid to students at private junior colleges.

The report also states the mean financial aid received by public university undergraduates is half the mean amount received by private university undergraduates. However, financial aid to public university students accounts for a greater amount of their total college costs, the report states.

The report also states higher education costs have risen faster than Illinois citizens’ income since 1979.

In other business, the Board will recommend adoption of a few resolutions for the proposed DuPage County multi-university, now called the Center for Advanced Education and Research.

Although the Board recommends active participation from all universities and research centers involved, “the University of Illinois shall have operational responsibility for the Center,” the report stated.

The feasibility of locating the center at Fermi National Laboratories will continue to be explored by Fermilab respresentatives and the United States Department of Energy.

The IBHE named UIC’s Irving Miller director of the planning efforts.

The Industrial Advisory Board and the Council of Vice Presidents, established partly by the IBHE, will determine program content before the budget and architectural plans are developed, the report stated.

The groups involved with the educational and research opportunities at the center include NIU, U of I at Chicago and Champaign/Urbana, Northwestern University, Illinois Institute of Technology, Argonne National Laboratory and Fermilab.