Enhancing the urban university: The role of a college of basic studies

This analytic paper presents the challenge of access and success for the academically underprepared student as among the most difficult in higher education. It emphasizes that the numbers and needs of the academically underprepared students are greatest, and their needs most diverse, within urban areas, particularly urban high schools. This study argues that the urban university has a particular responsibility to address this challenge.;This study focuses on a college of basic studies as the most centralized approach universities have established in response to the academic needs of the underprepared student. Yet research indicates that the goal of this college place it at odds with the traditional academic hierarchy. This study tests the findings within the University of Massachusetts at Boston, an urban university without this centralized approach.;The examination of programmatic approaches at urban universities included: (1) a description of the underprepared urban student; (2) an examination of programs at twenty urban universities focusing on (a) diversity in the admission of underprepared students, (b) their retention and graduation rates, and (c) unique program characteristics, and (3) the effect (using indicators a, b, and c above) of a centralized approach at the University of Massachusetts at Boston.;This study identifies characteristics stressed by participants as essential in meeting the needs of the underprepared. These include broad institutional support, overall administrative responsibility in a single individual tied to the academic core of the university, and an institutionally comprehensive approach. However, this study demonstrates little agreement on how to operationalize these characteristics.;This study observes that institutional constraints, particularly those tied to the history and tradition of universities, prevent a more comprehensive and centralized approach from being fully developed. Evidence suggests that as an institution moves toward a centralized approach, issues of academic image and prestige surface. The study indicates that this situation may be more severe for public than for independent institutions.;This study does not recommend a college of basic studies for the University of Massachusetts at Boston, but recommends that it reexamine those traditions in order to more comprehensively meet the needs of the underprepared student.