KYVU Governance
The KYVU is a unit of the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education (CPE). The CPE is the coordinating body for higher education in Kentucky and a government agency of the Commonwealth. The Council is comprised of 13 members appointed by the Governor plus a faculty member, a student member, the Commissioner of elementary and secondary education (ex officio) and the president of the council. The CPE is governed by its bylaws.
Any KYVU policy or administrative guideline that will impact postsecondary institutions is taken to the council for approval. Until recently, policies and guidelines were taken to the Distance Learning Advisory Committee (DLAC) and if approved, they were forwarded to the council for approval. The current president Tom Layzell has expanded the mission of DLAC from the statutory language of the Kentucky General Assembly’s House Bill 1 to include advising the council on all types of distance learning being conducted in the state, not just the activities of KYVU. For the specifics on this action, see the DLAC agenda of October 1, 2003.
KYVU is unusual among its fellow virtual universities in that it was crafted in great detail by House Bill 1 as an integral part of the overall Postsecondary Education Reform Act of 1997. The original mission of KYVU can be found in HB 1, page 20 of 204, lines 5 through 9: "The Commonwealth Virtual University shall be the academic programs made available to the citizens of the Commonwealth through the use of modern methods of communications and information dissemination as determined by the Council on Postsecondary Education after consideration of the recommendations of the Distance Learning Advisory Committee…”
Along with the mission, the General Assembly emphasized the role of the Council on Postsecondary Education’s fiscal responsibilities for KYVU in HB 1, page 16 of 204, lines 18 through 27: “(1)(a) The technology initiative trust fund created by Section 7 of this Act is intended to support investments in electronic technology for postsecondary education throughout the Commonwealth to improve student learning. (b) The Council on Postsecondary Education may establish separate subsidiary programs and related accounts to provide financial assistance to the postsecondary education system in acquiring the infrastructure necessary to acquire and develop electronic technology capacity; to encourage shared program delivery among libraries, institutions, systems, agencies, and programs; to provide funding for the Commonwealth Virtual University under Section 16 of this Act;…” Also, in HB 1, page 21 of 204, lines 4 through 6: “(4) The council shall determine the allocation of tuition, course offerings, source of courses, technology to be used, and other matters relating to the use of distance learning to promote education through the Commonwealth Virtual University.”
The Council, as a part of the executive branch of the state government, was charged with specific delegation duties as well in order to craft policies and keep KYVU solvent and meaningful for the citizens of Kentucky. This is described in HB 1, pages 20 and 21 of 204, lines 19 through 27 and lines 1 through 3: “(3) The council, after receiving the recommendations of the Distance Learning Advisory Committee, shall establish policies to control and promote the use of distance learning systems to be used by the Commonwealth Virtual University to increase the availability of all postsecondary education programs throughout the state in the most efficient manner. The regional universities shall be the primary developers and deliverers of baccalaureate and master’s degree programs to be delivered by the Commonwealth Virtual University; however, this does not preclude the University of Kentucky, the University of Louisville, or independent colleges from offering baccalaureate and master’s degree programs or other course offerings, and community college and technical institutions from offering associate and technical degree programs or other courses through the Commonwealth Virtual University.”
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