Page 146 - Crisis in Higher Education

A Customer-Focused, Resource Management Perspective • 117

which is about 30%, continues to decline. Service to the academy, which
is a small commitment of tenured faculty time, typically 10% or less, is
justified by the value it creates in enhancing teaching and research and
participating in university governance. However, when service expands
to include outreach and engagement, which serves the external commu-
nity, more faculty time is consumed, but the benefits to tuition payers are
minimal. There is no corresponding revenue stream to support outreach
and engagement, so resources are diverted from instruction and research
to cover these costs.
As shown in Figure 5.4, regardless of the source of funds or how they
are used, all the activities have embedded spending on administration. To
illustrate the impact of this, recall that from 1978 to 2014, tenured faculty
increased by only 23%, and undergraduate enrollment grew by 73%, yet
administrative positions grew by 369%. 11,12

5.4.3 Resource Allocation
Although this discussion does not provide complete answers to the ques-
tions about resource allocation, it does offer insights about how to improve
resource management. Universities should strive to make resource allo-
cation consistent with the needs and wants of the customers paying the
bill. Based on the discussion, administration and management must be
carefully examined, restructured, and streamlined, so they are more effec-
tive, more efficient, and costs much less. The roles and responsibilities of
faculty, who are also a major cost component, must be adjusted so students
get what they need and the research mission of the university is enhanced.
To make learning more effective and efficient, different learning tools are
needed to communicate concepts and techniques to students. To ensure
that applicants are better prepared, universities should improve their rela-
tionships with community and technical colleges and high schools. These
elements of the solution are discussed in the following chapters. An over-
view of the relationships between the elements of the solution and the root
causes is given in Table 5.1.

• Chapter 11: Reforming Administration and Management: These
reforms impact not only the cost and productivity of administrators,
but they provide an avenue for lowering faculty costs, improving
instructional materials while keeping their costs low, and better uti-
lizing student fees. Administration, working with faculty, is critical