AUGUSTA (AP) – Chancellor Terrence MacTaggart, addressing a joint convention of a Legislature that may have more University of Maine System alumni than ever before, said Thursday there are reasons for pride in the quality and value of the state universities “but we have to do better.”

Appearing with Maine Community College System President John Fitzsimmons, MacTaggart said the challenge for the university system is twofold and involves both substance and image.

“If we can raise the quality and reputation for quality even further, a lot of good things will happen,” MacTaggart said in prepared remarks.

Fitzsimmons, who has headed what is now the community college system since 1990, said the state is at a crossroads and can either stand pat or expand a system that offers “a lifeline for hardworking Maine people” seeking higher education to foster personal advancement.

Fitzsimmons said community college enrollment has grown by 3,560 additional students, or 47 percent, over the past four years, while state budget funding has increased by only 10.4 percent.

“After all we have achieved, after all we have done to make the best use of limited resources, we still have only scratched the surface of student demand,” Fitzsimmons said in his written speech.

MacTaggart, who previously served as chancellor from 1996 to 2001 and returned to the job last year following the resignation of Joseph Westphal, is to be succeeded on July 1 by Richard Pattenaude, the longtime president of the University of Southern Maine.

MacTaggart said Thursday there are about 75 members of the Legislature who are alumni or alumnae of at least one of Maine’s public universities, making that group what is believed to be the largest in history.

The university system customarily has an enrollment of around 34,000 each September, with the number of students growing to around 45,000 full- and part-time after admissions for the spring semester and summer session. About 90 percent of the students come from Maine, MacTaggart said.

Within the Maine Community College System, nearly 26,000 students participate each year in one or two-year programs, credit and noncredit courses, and customized training.

Last month, unveiling a $6.4 billion General Fund budget proposal for the two-year cycle beginning July 1, Gov. John Baldacci said under his plan the University of Maine System would receive an additional $14.4 million. Officials said another $5 million would go toward research and development.

Baldacci said the Maine Community College System stood to receive an additional $11.7 million, and the Maine Maritime Academy $2.1 million.

State government currently provides about one-third of the university system’s $600 million annual budget, system officials said.

Senate President Beth Edmonds, D-Freeport, said Maine Education Commissioner Susan Gendron, Fitzsimmons and MacTaggart next month will present the results of an effort she sought to have the state’s public education systems develop a new working partnership.

“Based on my follow-up discussions with them, it is evident that through this process, they have already enhanced their positive working relationships,” Edmonds said.

“It is also clear that the plan they present will raise to new heights the level of collaboration between their systems. In this new knowledge-based economy it’s time for innovative thinking. … Our challenge is to step out of our comfort zones and embrace a new way of doing business. I believe, if we do, we can unleash the creativity of our talent-rich state and build a better Maine,” Edmonds said.

House Speaker Glenn Cummings, a Portland Democrat who teaches at Southern Maine Community College, said he wants to increase the capacity of the community college system.

Cummings also said he will be introducing legislation to require all graduating high school seniors in Maine to complete at least one college application.