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Appendix

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDATIONS FROM The Fiscal Crisis of Higher Education, A Report of the Commission on National Investment in Higher Education of the Council for Aid to Higher Education, The RAND Institute, December, 1997

29.--Dismantle existing governance structures to increase the ability of administrators to make resource allocation decisions unimpeded by the narrow perspectives of faculties, programs, departments and even schools within larger institutions. Specifically, universities and colleges should "move toward systematic performance based assessment" to enable them to assess the costs and benefits of providing all services; "define and measure faculty productivity" and change "the current incentive system governing faculty behavior"; reconcile budgeting and fund accounting systems so that they provide "timely profit and loss information". (RAND, l997, pp.24-25) The RAND Report urges "academic leaders to actively involve the business community in their restructuring." (RAND, l997, p.22)

30.--Pursue greater "mission differentiation to streamline their services and better respond to the changing needs of their constituents." Concerned to end "current mission 'creep'-- e.g., community colleges attempting to become four-year degree-granting institutions, state universities becoming research center, and research universities overing remedial instruction," the RAND (1997, pp. 26-29) proposes that:

  • Community colleges should specialize in workforce preparation, adult education, remedial education and English as a Second Language. The RAND Report encourages community colleges to develop "long-term strategic" partnerships with employers, high schools and local government in, for example, "designing and funding school-to-work programs." Faculty incentives should be designed to "encourage commitment to such socially responsive intiatives."
  • State undergraduate institutions should "take the lead in teacher training and areas related to regional economic development." Their faculties "should be encouraged to assume a stronger leadership role in research and technical assistance for regional economic development."
  • "The independent college sector should focus on its comparative advantage: the liberal arts undergraduate mission."
  • Major research universities "should focus on the promotion of research and graduate eduation." A corollary of this proposal is that Congress pass legislation to concentrate federal research funds "in the nation's top-ranked research universities" rather than continuing to spread these funds "among more than 800 universities and laboratories."

31.--Develop strategies for sharing resources by:

  • aligning "undergraduate requirements, transfer requirements, and joint-teaching and degree-producing arrangements" by taking advantage of "the new educational technologies afforded by the Internet
  • pooling introductory courses and instructors, again by taking advantage of Internet-based technologies
  • joint outsourcing of functions from plant maintenance to health care, security and purchasing
  • combining physical plants that serve the same geographical area
  • placing library resources on the Internet rather than support individual research library collections


If It's So Important, Why Won't They Pay For It?
Works Cited