The University of North Texas at Dallas (UNT-Dallas) was conceived 10 years ago as a public institution along tried-and-true lines--a comprehensive metropolitan university meant to serve a diverse student population and to improve the economic outlook of a part of the city that prosperity has left behind. But that was before management consultants…

Space is a serious, expensive business on college campuses. Following a decade-long building boom, a crippling recession, a spike in energy prices (with further increases probable), and in some regions fierce competition for a shrinking pool of students, the stakes of managing campus space have never been higher. Students, it is often assumed,…

The public has become all too aware of the term "bubble" to describe an asset that is irrationally and artificially overvalued and cannot be sustained. The dot-com bubble burst by 2000. More recently the overextended housing market collapsed, helping to trigger a credit meltdown. The stock market has declined more than 30 percent in the past year,…

Budget seasons have been less uncertain at the University System of Maryland, where leaders have taken a different approach: voluntarily paring back costs. Their efforts are paying off, in more ways than one. The cost-savings plan, dubbed the Effectiveness and Efficiency Initiative, begun in 2004, has saved $94-million so far at the 11-campus…

Back when markets hinged on local contacts, product standardization wasn't a concern. When higher education was thought to be mainly about educating citizens, standardization wasn't much of a concern, either. Standardization has come later to higher education than to other commodities markets, but it has arrived. As with other commodities, unit…

Most colleges are finding they must cut back spending and find ways to increase income, no longer relying on raising tuition. Although consolidating jobs, cutting academic programs, reducing financial aid, and delaying construction are already common among larger schools, small colleges fear the impact on their already limited budgets. (MSE)

Although Internet, a major computerized information network, makes massive quantities of information available free to users, there are concerns associated with it, including the lack of permanent storage of information and the need for colleges to recover costs incurred in making information available off-campus. (MSE)

A small group of college professors are well known for their prolific publishing as well as the substance of their scholarship. Some are concerned that observers will see their scholarship as insubstantial because of its quantity. Techniques supporting such productivity may include minimal editing, high energy, and aggressive self-promotion. (MSE)

Computing authorities at 34 research universities have launched an effort to create a national computer network for higher education several times as fast as the Internet. The network would be supported by several corporate partners in computer and telecommunications industries and by the federal government, would not replace Internet connections,…

A competition for design of a master plan to alleviate disorder, clutter, and a lack of landmarks on the University of Miami's campus is described, and a sampling of the competition's winning entries ranging from pragmatic to fantastical are presented. (MSE)

Increasingly, college textbooks written to the specifications of individual professors are being produced on demand by custom publishers, often prepared very quickly to contain up-to-date information. Students prefer them to photocopied packets of readings. The trend is a reaction to the emergence of information-on-demand computer networks. (MSE)

In Portland, an Oregon state commission wants to create a federation of public and private institutions to meet local demand through better coordination. The effort may involve having some institutions refocus curricula to social and economic issues facing the community, seeking less state and more private funds, and joint faculty hiring. (MSE)

In two years, HighWire Press at Stanford University (California) has revolutionized online scientific publishing; electronic journals are reaching readers faster, are easier to search, and are entering new foreign markets. The largest scientific publishers will put about 200 journals online in 1997. Other changes foreseen include immediate rather…

Winners of a national contest for cost-cutting in campus maintenance, institutional planning, and program administration and the nature of their innovations are reported. (MSE)

Increasingly, colleges and universities are using procurement cards, which are credit cards with limited usage, for institutional faculty and staff to make small purchases without going through costly and inefficient purchasing channels. Some concerns include distribution of cards, increased liability, and monitoring of expenditures. (MSE)