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.

According to any accounting method, ERP investments are among the largest single concentrated investments in dollars and human resources ever made by higher education in any area.

Because the Colleges of Applied Arts and Technology (CAATS) of Ontario are largely dependent on the Ontario Government for financial support, it is important to justify their level of expenditure, and prove that allotted public funds are effectively and efficiently managed. After a brief discussion of the existing resource allocation process in…

Computer-assisted instruction (CAI) has become sufficiently widespread to require attention to the relationships between its costs, administration and benefits. Despite difficulties in instituting them, quantifiable cost-effectiveness analyses offer several advantages. They allow educators to specify with precision anticipated instructional loads,…

Three models are examined in terms of their historical growth, structural similarities and differences, and their implementation and use. They are CAMPUS (Comprehensive Analytical Methods of Planning in University Systems), RRPM (Resource Requirements Prediction Model), and HIS (Hochschule Information System). Their basic logics are explained with…

Program budgeting is described as a means of enabling higher education to respond effectively to three major accountability concerns. They are (1) the long-term financial implications of a particular programmatic or policy decision, (2) determination of what is being paid for, and (3) understanding that the price being paid for a program is…

One critical aspect of costing system methodologies is examined: the effects of average costing by course level on program unit cost. The direct costing methodologies used in two costing systems are compared. One is the internally developed Purdue University Cost Study; the other, the NCHEMS Costing and Data Management System. The comparison…