VCU’s race toward the top
Dr. Rao is focusing on how to make VCU even more distinct, as we shift from the strategic “VCU 2020” plan to a new focus, titled “VCU Quest for Distinction.” This move is precisely the step VCU needs to take in order to reach to the next level.
Colin Hannifin
Columnist
Everyone in Richmond knows how great VCU is; we have highly ranked and regarded schools on both campuses, ranging from the School of Education to the School of Medicine.
Now Dr. Rao is focusing on how to make VCU even more distinct, as we shift from the strategic “VCU 2020” plan to a new focus, titled “VCU Quest for Distinction.” This move is precisely the step VCU needs to take in order to reach to the next level.
For the past several years, one word could summarize VCU’s plan for the future: growth. It’s apparent everywhere you look: new buildings, rampant renovations and increased enrollment. But unchecked growth is not the long-term goal for VCU; growth for the sake of growth doesn’t make sense. Size itself won’t take us to the next level, but raising our academic recognition will. This is Dr. Rao’s new focus. After becoming as large as we are, with over 30,000 students, the goal is to now make VCU the best university it can be.
VCU’s shift in focus could not come at a better time. We are better known now than ever before, largely thanks to the men’s basketball team’s run in the NCAA Tournament. Now that people know VCU, it’s time to shape the reason why people know VCU.
While we have many successful programs, it seems that few outside our community realize how academically robust our university is. As VCU fights for distinction, it will come with hard work, but also increased public recognition. Now we must erase the stereotype of VCU as a “safety school.” Instead, we should promote VCU as a destination school. This shift has already begun, and more people are giving VCU the respect it deserves.
The specific, tangible changes that will accompany the “Quest for Distinction” are currently unknown. The plan is a high-level strategy for the next several years and has many goals – such as attracting and retaining the best students and faculty – and ways to measure the success of VCU’s efforts to meet these goals. How these efforts will be realized, however, will come to light over the next several months and years.
Many of these changes will happen long after current students have moved on from their collegiate careers and into the professional world, which makes us wonder why we should care. The answer to that is deceptively simple: The more robust and recognized VCU becomes, the more weight our future degrees carry. While VCU continues to move forward in academia, attendance will become more impressive.
It is unlikely that VCU’s name will ever be equal to the storied universities of the Northeast – universities like Princeton, Harvard and MIT. But that isn’t the goal of VCU’s leaders. They’re working to keep the university accepting, progressive and affordable. It’s still among the best deals in Virginia, despite the large tuition hike, especially while we’re moving up in the academic world in order to draw ourselves equal to or better than similar large state institutions.
As we continue on this quest for distinction, each student should embrace the changes and challenges that will be sure to accompany it, as they only serve to further our institution and ourselves.
