The art of retrenchment is in selecting among the available budgeting options that fit a given institution at a given time. One option that deserves increasing consideration is across-the-board cuts. In coping with student demands, institutions should also be concerned for curricular integrity and liberal learning. (MSE)

Program discontinuance at colleges and universities is often linked to issues of program demand and quality. However, neither low demand nor low quality is sufficient for program discontinuance without a judgment on the criterion of the centrality of the program to the institution's core mission. Colleges' retrenchment and survival mechanisms…

Most administrators approach program reduction as a budget issue; in reality, it is a governance and planning issue of major importance for the 1980s. Steps in a planning process for program discontinuance (including pitfalls) are described, based on a national study supported by the Exxon Foundation. (Author/LB)

Four key criteria used in academic program review (quality, centrality to institutional mission, competition, and demand) are defined and discussed. They are then applied to the process of strategic planning for an unspecified private university. Decision-making matrixes and their use are illustrated. (MSE)

A plan for reducing or consolidating institutions and programs of the University of Wisconsin (UW) is presented, based on a request by Wisconsin Governor Patrick J. Lucey in 1975. The Governor's basic fiscal and enrollment assumptions are identified, and the findings and recommendations of the UW system President John Weaver are presented. Part 1…

How institutional research can improve the quality of institutional performance of colleges and universities in the face of funding constraints is discussed. An example of the use of instructional research to assist in documenting institutional quality in Australia is noted. Institutional research uses data collection, analysis, and interpretation…