Recent Additions:
Public Review: Understanding the Costs of Higher Education: A SC Parents Guide

Welcome to the Alliance for Research on Higher Education, a research collaborative within the Strom Thurmond Institute of Government and Public Affairs.  Initiated in the summer of 2006, the Alliance offers a unique model for improving leaders’ access to objective research on policy issues related to higher education.

South Carolina does not have an organization dedicated to evaluating the policies implemented that affect education, even though almost 50 percent of the state’s annual revenues are allocated to education, including elementary, secondary, and post-secondary education.  Without an organization devoted to the highest levels of academic integrity, empirical research, and full dissemination of results, the state cannot know if it is successfully achieving its goals for higher education.

It is well understood that the economy of a state and the well being of its citizens are interwoven with its education system in general, and specifically with its institutions of higher education.  Discussions of affordability, accountability, and access (to name a few) cannot take place without consideration of the state’s economic health.  In parallel, a state’s business and economic growth cannot exist without consideration of the role that education plays in terms of opportunities and workforce.