This paper reviews and examines approaches to determining the financial viability of academic programmes as a critical component of assessing a programme's overall sustainability. Key to assessing the financial viability of a programme is understanding the teaching activities required to deliver the programme and the cost of those activities. A…

Four forms of funding universities (capitation, categorical, initiative, inventive) in Australia are examined for their characteristics, advantages, and disadvantages. The option of using these funding mechanisms for allocating resources within individual universities, based on performance, is explored. Finally, use of the four kinds of funding…

In most countries, it is the state that has been taking over the support of universities and of teaching hospitals, a trend that has accelerated rapidly over the past 25 years to meet the expanding needs of higher education and of health care. In medicine the problem of university autonomy is further complicated by the long-standing custom that…