Report on a 10-year study of five European universities involved in major institutional change suggests five "pathways of transformation," including: (1) a strengthened steering core; (2) an enhanced developmental periphery; (3) a diversified funding base; (4) a stimulated academic heartland; and (5) an embracing entrepreneurial culture.…

Discusses the need to save the soul of higher education in the context of technology advances, globalization of markets, and new providers. Identifies traditional core attributes of higher education including: socializing students to the community, the life of the mind, and to a profession; the encouragement of social mobility; and providing…

Examples of retrenchment at colleges and universities are given as are five principles such as the need to reconsider institutional mission. Both strategic and tactical perspectives are applied to retrenchment decisions of college leadership. (DB)

Higher Education needs a rebirth of academic management to combine educational policy and planning with financial administration. The approaches to strategy-making at four institutions at Hood, Hartford, Minnesota, Minneapolis-St. Paul, and Teachers College are described. (MLW)

Enrollment declines during the next 15 years in the college-age group, especially in the country's northeastern quadrant, are discussed. In the northeastern region, enrollment declines are likely to be twice the national rate. A model, designed to reflect what is likely to happen, is provided. (MLW)

An earlier article evaluating Massachusetts' recent long-range plan for higher education is criticized. Aspects of the plan omitted in the first article are noted, including state financing improvements, incentives for institutional action, and increased local autonomy. (MSE)

Fisk University (Tennessee), Tougaloo College (Mississippi), and Howard University (District of Columbia) are achieving fiscal and academic success resulting from strategic planning. Elements of that success include building on institutional strengths, using bold institutional leadership, establishing financial stability, and involving faculty in…

The creation of the Massachusetts Board of Regents by legislative act in 1980 marked a major departure from a loosely coordinated system of higher education that had been in place in the state since 1965. The new public system created a central governing board with strong budgetary and program authority. (MLW)

When declining resources make difficult choices unavoidable, higher education must: assert a unified, coherent state strategy for instruction, financial aid, research, and public service independent of federal policy; eliminate outmoded facilities and obsolete equipment; reconsider the instructional process; and reevaluate the role of faculty.…

A management of decline approach is contrasted with a model based on strategic planning and contingency budgeting for higher education. The strategic planning model is seen as a broader, more effective approach based on an assessment of what outcomes could be if enrollment strategies were effective in attracting students. (MLW)

Discusses the role of academic departments in university reform efforts and reports on a survey of 64 provosts concerning department-level change. Three sources of tension between institutional needs and traditional academic departments are identified. Urges faculty involvement in reforms, including regrouping faculty, redefining departmental…

A report examining the conditions facing Williams College in the 1980s is excerpted. The committee was to emphasize strategies to serve two major institutional goals: maintaining a large pool of well-qualified applicants, and maintaining a faculty that is talented, well compensated and professionally committed. (MLW)

David Breneman's "The Coming Enrollment Crisis: What Every Trustee Must Know" is discussed by Wharton, L. Edward Allemand, Barbara S. Uehling, Irving J. Spitzberg, Jr., Oscar E. Remick, Thomas V. Litzenburg, Jr., and John W. Pocock. Implications for reversals of social and political policy, student retention, developing compensatory…