Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, September 2, 1994 TAG: 9409020074
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALLISON BLAKE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The influx is predicted in Tech's wide-ranging reorganization plan, submitted to state education officials Thursday along with those of all other state-funded colleges and universities. In a sort of Total Quality Management model for higher education, colleges and universities will shrink and merge duplicative programs and operations in order to save money over the long haul.
Stung by the recession years of budget cuts, and competing with Medicaid and prison budgets, higher education has no choice but to streamline, said Mike McDowell, spokesman for the State Council of Higher Education.
"We have the issue of an influx of 72,000 students, and we also anticipate the economic forces shaping Virginia are not going to change," McDowell said. "We don't expect higher education to become a larger share of the state budget."
Many schools already have been forced by budget cuts to begin reorganizing. Cuts from the last four years have whacked more than $28 million from Tech's budget, with a total loss of 253 positions. Likewise, Virginia Military Institute has lost $2.2 million and 55 of its 465 employees.
"We feel that we have been restructuring for the last three or four years," said Lt. Col. Mike Strickler, a VMI spokesman.
So has Virginia Tech, which already has reallocated $15 million and merged six departments into three.
Students will have to wait and see what other mergers lie on the horizon.
"We don't talk about them until after the fact," said Tech spokesman Larry Hincker. "But, yes, there will be more mergers and possible [program] eliminations.''
Perhaps hardest hit has been the College of Education, which got a directive last winter to cut $1.6 million.
In a plan that will unfold over the coming years, that money should be saved without layoffs, according to a statement from Dean Wayne Worner. Twenty-seven faculty members have shown some interest in Tech's buy-out plan.
Among items noted in Tech's plan:
A $23 million savings through a plan to reallocate existing space in campus buildings.
A total of $40 million to spend on various programs, ranging from heating bills to a computer initiative, taken from existing programs.
Increased collaboration among faculty members, resulting in expanded programs.
Workshops that teach Tech faculty how to use the latest in computer technology, which they then may employ in their own teaching.
Closing the laundry on campus for a $100,000-per-year savings, and turning the space over to the College of Engineering.
Merging Cooperative Education, Placement Services, and Career Counseling, for a total savings of $80,000.
Taking 25 percent of the architecture budget and turning it into a new degree program called Industrial Design.
At Radford University, savings have not been calculated, partially because the school already operates under a lean administration. Acting president Charles Owens, who took the reins in June, already has instituted several of the goals in his university's plan:
Reducing in-house paperwork and bureaucracy.
Increasing the use of technology to deliver instruction.
Redesigning internal governance to free faculty from cumbersome committee time.
"We will be trying to be as efficient as possible, to keep costs down. What that means in terms of specific programs and departments is still being determined," Owens said.
The New College of Global Studies under development at Radford will serve as a lab to try out teaching ideas that the whole school can use, Owens said.
The state council will review all 17 plans in the coming weeks, and meet with Secretary of Education Beverly Sgro at the end of September. On Oct.11, they will release their findings regarding the plans.
"We're just getting [the reports] in to the office, and I've only read a couple of them," Deputy Secretary of Education Steve Janosik said Thursday. "One of the things everyone is trying to do is streamline administrative processes, eliminate positions and reduce costs."
by CNB