The Lipscomb University Adult Degree Program exemplifies how a centralized governance system can benefit nontraditional college students and promote cross-departmental interactions. The two-person staff of the adult program at Lipscomb University envisions a number of potential benefits of having a much larger staff. However, such a programmatic…

This chapter, drawing from the previous chapters, synthesizes potential directions and implications of future innovation in higher education. The focus is on innovation to address critical issues that administrators face today: the adaptability, maturity, cost structure, and efficiency of the institution.

This article presents working definitions of efficiency, accountability, and quality, offering a framework in which an individual institution can make idiosyncratic use of these definitions, suggests tools for managing educational processes with respect to these three attributes, and presents examples of how institutions have improved efficiency,…

One way colleges can approach cost control is by taking advantages of cooperative purchasing activities with other, similar institutions. Guiding principles for effective efforts include sharing the risk, sharing the resources, providing services to other institutions, and expanding institutional bargaining power through cooperation. Significant…

The learning productivity approach to higher education attempts to gain productivity, not so much by reducing or cheapening inputs but by enhancing higher education's major output: student learning. In the learning productivity perspective, the principal problem is in teaching and learning inefficiencies such as excessive nonlearning time,…

In many colleges, the business office has been isolated from other departments. The modern college business office reflects the highly efficient and technologically supported activities found in industry that have resulted in better services to the whole institution. (Author/MSE)

This article describes the cost-of-quality model used at El Camino College (California), which formally measures the costs associated with process improvement activities. A case study illustrates use of the model in evaluating a new process for reimbursing faculty and staff attending conferences. (DB)

Small colleges can make a virtue of the need to use administrative staff flexibly and to train young staff. Senior administrators must assume a variety of tasks, and young administrators can develop their skills while covering key functions. (MSE)

Pressure for cost containment is growing at even very financially healthy colleges and universities. Institutions need to think concurrently about cost containment in terms of temporary, mid-term, and permanent changes to institutional operations and priorities. It may be productive to reframe the issue as "funding priorities" rather…

Small colleges can be effective in consortial arrangements because they are more independent and often less fiercely competitive than larger institutions, making better personal relations possible. The Associated Colleges of the St. Lawrence Valley in northern New York, with four member institutions, has expanded student opportunities, shared…

Future library users will be oriented more toward information and access to it than to the medium containing the information. Both cultural and technological development will affect users' expectations and demands of academic library services. (Author/MSE)

Most states are likely to implement new funding priorities in the next few years. To ensure that the budget system wil provide incentives for a high-quality, high-access system, states should take a comprehensive look at their current funding policies to see whether they are providing incentives for improved quality, access, and efficient…

The decision on the most appropriate size for liberal arts colleges should not be made on economic grounds. Analysis of literature shows that economic benefits through economies of scale are too debatable to play an important role. Fixed costs may be offset by less institutional complexity in small colleges. (Author/MSE)

A strengthened student aid partnership between the federal and state governments and colleges needs to use existing funds more efficiently, regulate how students receive aid more effectively, and delineate the rights and responsibilities of each of the major partners more adequately. Better cooperation would benefit taxpayers, institutions, and…

Comprehensive facilities management is seen as becoming an important factor in higher education. Alternatives to new construction exist in the form of rehabilitation and renovation; deferred maintenance must be addressed and gradually reduced; better use of space must occur through diversion of surplus space, increased utilization, and…