Margaret Spellings's Vision for Higher Education

In the week between the revelation that the University of North Carolina’s Board of Governors was looking at former Education Secretary Margaret Spellings to lead the 16-campus system and her ultimate selection last Friday, most of the reporting and commentary focused on whether the board and the presidential search committee were following procedures.
Now that she has been selected to run one of the country’s best-respected public university systems, however, we need to understand her vision for the future of American higher education. As secretary, Margaret Spellings put together one of the most high-profile commissions on higher education in American history. In 2006, the commission issued the Spellings Report, or as it is formally known, “A Test of Leadership: Charting the Future of U.S. Higher Education.”
That document sought to transform the purpose and structure of American higher education to, in the report’s words, ensure “future economic growth.”