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Shining a Light on Productivity, Part II
Yesterday we discussed the Lumina Productivity conference and mentioned its report.
The report offers the following ideas - and more! - for policymakers and university trustees:
- Flatten the organizational structure by reducing the administrative layers. (North Carolina did this: recommendations are projected to save more than $150 million called for the university to centralize procurement operations and information technology functions.)
- Condition financial aid on actual completion of at least 24 credits and four-year on-time graduation. (Florida)
- Require students to repay scholarship money for dropped courses. (Florida again)
- Deliver small majors jointly with other institutions: ACTA's suggested this before
- Charge in-state students with "excessive" credits out-of-state tuitions. (Texas)
- Increase teaching loads in research universities
- Pare back the menu of extracurricular activities.
Tracking ACTA's work, the report finds that "many institutions would do well to find savings through strategic restructuring of the curriculum beginning with required general education courses. A good first step: Compile data on course-taking, and then eliminate courses that relatively few students sign up for. In the long run, colleges and universities should aim to construct focused academic programs that offer clear pathways for students to earn degrees. This can improve retention and completion. Researchers have found that students get tangled up when there are too many course choices; lacking guidance, they take too many nonessential courses and prolong the time it takes to get a degree."
Tomorrow we'll take a look at what's happening in Indiana, South Carolina, and Louisiana where ACTA has been active.
Posted by Anne D. Neal on November 18, 2010 at November 18, 2010 10:49 AM
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