Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Higher Education: Beyond the Ivory Tower

KH Consulting Group (KH) has launched this Know-How newsletter to create a forum for sharing ideas on effectively enhancing revenues and containing costs in higher education in the near and longer term. We will routinely share ideas via this newsletter format and post the ideas on a blog. You can subscribe to the newsletter by signing up for our mailing list.

The ideas are based on more than 20 years of work with more than 80 colleges and universities. In the 1990s, KH published more than 500 ideas in a booklet called, Beyond the Ivory Tower. This booklet was sold nationwide as a handy reference guide. It was based on an earlier poster of 50 cost-savings ideas that the KH President had worked on while with the Academy for Educational Development (AED) in Washington, D.C.

The ideas shared are not prescriptive and will not work in all situations or at all institutions. Some of the ideas are tactical - quick victories to save money in easy ways. Others are strategic, requiring careful analysis before implementing. The ideas can be grouped typically as strategies and tactics to:

  • Manage costs
  • Enhance revenues
  • Allocate resources more effectively

KH will routinely post a new idea to stimulate thinking about new approaches to addressing the fiscal challenges facing colleges and universities today. We encourage others to share their experiences, reactions, and insights and, thus, form a network of stronger educational institutions that can weather the years ahead.
We hope you find this useful.

Gayla Kraetsch-Hartsough, Ph.D.
President
KH Consulting Group

1 comment:

  1. “Management Ideas and Techniques for Higher Education” by Holm, Donald S.

    “When a college or university is faced with financial problems, it can either seek more revenue or reduce costs. With the constantly growing costs of education and research and the increasing resistance of legislators and other financial contributors, cost reduction is becoming the necessary alternative. In taking this route, 11 problem areas need to be considered:

    1) the "have to spend it" notion on the part of departments and offices;
    2) the "game" of unrealistic budget request to assure that real needs are met;
    3) adjustment from traditional prosperity to an "economy diet;"
    4) retention of effective programs and faculty and staff momentum;
    5) attraction of outstanding staff in areas of need;
    6) the administrative attitude that "success" is measured in terms of quantity of new faculty added each year;
    7) the expensive research and grantsmanship syndrome and its often undesirable side and after effects;
    8) the costly acquisition and utilization of computer hardware;
    9) excesses and wastes created through personnel surpluses and course proliferation;
    10) substitution of an innovative role for the traditional "caretaker" role of the administrator; and
    11) acceptance and support for economy programs that many will perceive as threatening.” (DS)

    Source: ERIC Journal Number (EJ Number). ED035351

    What’s particularly interesting is that this article was written in November, 11, 1969. Have times changed that much? Seems like the same issues persist. – Gayla Kraetsch Hartsough, KH President

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