The American Enterprise Institute is launching  a new Center on Higher Education Reform (CHER).

The College Fix has a summary:

Led by founding director and resident scholar Andrew P. Kelly, the center will conduct independent, data-driven research and analysis designed to inform policymaking and shape the higher education reform conversation.

“At the root of the American Dream is the ability of all people to get ahead and earn their success, and a vibrant and flexible system of higher education is critical to upward mobility in the 21st century,” said AEI president Arthur Brooks. “AEI’s new Center on Higher Education Reform will lead the conversation about how we can make higher education work for all Americans, and to prepare American students to flourish in the decades to come.”

“The higher education reform debate is today where the K-12 education reform debate was 15 years ago,” said AEI director of education policy Frederick M. Hess. “There is an urgent need for insightful research that spans the worlds of policy and entrepreneurship. AEI’s Center on Higher Education Reform, under the leadership of Andrew P. Kelly, will tackle the disparate worlds of reform and work to reshape higher education policy.”

Read more about AEI’s new CHER project Some details on the AEI’s new CHER project include:

Led by founding director and AEI resident scholar Andrew P. Kelly, the center will conduct independent, data-driven research and policy analysis designed to inform policymaking, shape the reform conversation, and push past the special-interest talking points, partisan sound bites, and naïve silver-bullet solutions that tend to dominate policy debates. CHER’s scholarship will ask timely, policy-relevant questions and use the latest data to uncover pressing problems, explore opportunities for reform, and identify barriers to change.

A set of core principles will guide CHER’s work

Options and Choice: Students need an array of postsecondary options to choose from and the information necessary to find one that fits their goals, academic needs, and budget.

Shared Responsibility: Just as students must be prepared for college-level work, colleges must be prepared to provide students a high-quality education.

Productivity and Sustainability: Funding and financial aid policies should provide incentives for institutions and students to spend public investments wisely.

Entrepreneurship and Innovation: To bend the cost curve and enhance performance, reformers must rethink regulatory policies that inhibit innovation and limit competition.