California higher education problems stem from resource allocation, report says
http://www.dailycal.org/2012/06/13/...ms-stem-from-resource-allocation-report-says/
A report released Sunday by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni proposed that California’s higher education problems stem not from a lack of funding but from a misallocation of current resources.
The Washington, D.C.-based independent nonprofit organization published the report amid debate about whether the crisis of public higher education should be addressed by increased fees, program cuts, alternative sources of revenue or a mixture of all the issues. The report notes that while tuition has increased by 28 percent across the nation in the last five years, UC tuition has risen 73 percent and CSU tuition has increased 84 percent.
Rather than driving up the price of tuition further, the report argues that public universities should cut programs with low enrollment and utilize online technology and cross-campus collaboration to make them become more efficient and accessible.
In 2010-11, the CSU system had 512 degree programs, and the UC had 792 such programs that produced fewer than 10 graduates, the report states. The report prescribes a transition to a model which utilizes online and shared resources between campuses to maintain programs lacking strong graduation numbers.
UC spokesperson Dianne Klein said the report had questionable methodology.
Aside from program “bloat,” the report suggested several other areas of improvements to efficiency that the UC, CSU and California Community Colleges should consider such as late graduations, better utilization of facilities and lower administration compensation.
“What should the 21st century university look like?” Poliakoff asked. “Should it be a brick and mortar institution of ever-growing buildings, or should it be looking at a more agile way at making the superb education it offers more available through technology interactive?”
