Fund for Excellence and Innovation

Fast Facts

Overview:  The Fund for Excellence and Innovation was established during the 2016 General Assembly session to focus on two primary activities: (1) to stimulate collabora­tions among public school divisions, community colleges and universities and to expand affordable student pathways and (2) to pursue shared services and other efficiency initiatives at colleges and universities that lead to measureable cost reductions. In 2021, SCHEV published Pathways to Opportunity: The Virginia Plan for Higher Education. The Plan describes a vision for Virginia to be the “Best State for Education.” In order to realize that vision, the Commonwealth must raise its educa­tional attainment to 70% for 25- to 64-year-olds by 2030. In the Plan, the SCHEV Council established three goals for higher education: equitable, affordable, and transformative.

Spring 2022: This first competition under the new Virginia Plan is focused on one part of the Equitable goal: to remove barriers to attainment, especially for Black, Hispanic, Native American and rural students; students learning English as a second language; students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds; and students with disabilities. This competition is inspired by the University Innovation Alliance, a national consor­tium committed to increasing the number and diversity of college graduates.

Teams awarded a "Collaborative Equitable Attainment Grant" are expected to take a deep dive into the student data for at least two Virginia institutions of higher education (at least one of which must be public); identify gaps in attainment for some or all of the populations targeted by The Virginia Plan; use the resulting analysis and a methodol­ogy of their choice to find out what is and what is not serving students; conduct literature searches; design and conduct a pilot intervention to address a chosen gap in attainment; and assess the impact of their efforts and share the results.

Please see full instructions for details.

Webinar

An informational webinar is scheduled for Monday, Jan. 24 at 2:00

No registration is required.