College administrators in small and specialized colleges with a narrower margin for financial planning need a management process that continually renews the institution's sense of direction while ensuring that plans are matched to available resources. (MSE)

Cites recent ERIC documents dealing with community services, covering financing, history, and mission; enrollments; a community college small business center; community needs assessment; and artistic and cultural programs in a small/rural community college. (DMM)

In a small college, application of management by objectives concepts for planning and management have been used in three areas: personnel, programs, and budget. Interrelationships of these areas are discussed. Procedures are explained and results are illustrated so that these concepts can be used in other circumstances. (MSE)

The experience of a small liberal arts college in trying to develop a usable and understandable planning, management, and evaluation (PME) system is described. PME tasks in small colleges center upon selecting starting points, demonstrating how different procedures can facilitate operations and decision making, and educating people. (Author/MLW)

Faced with an enrollment decline of 36 percent in the last three years, New England College (New Hampshire) has developed a long-range plan for making itself smaller. Changes which are being made include: (1) reducing the number of faculty; (2) reducing the amount of student housing; (3) adding another person to the fundraising staff; (4) offering…

The role of student affairs staff in small colleges is considered in eight chapters. Topics of discussion include: conditions facing small colleges, the small college ecology, the role of the student affairs division in providing leadership for institutional planning and research, examples of innovative programming that maximize scarce resources…

A survey was conducted to determine: (1) what percentage of total planning time of the various personnel involved in institutional planning is allocated to the several planning functions; and (2) how planning functions are organized at small four-year public institutions. A questionnaire was mailed to the chief executive officers of 188…

Characteristics of successful small-college administration are identified: entrepreneurial spirit, intuitive decision-making, an effective intelligence-gathering network, planning for the future using analogies from the past, and a penchant for keeping options open. (Author/MLW)

It is the president's job to point out, remind, persuade, suggest new ideas, and identify places where improvement is needed or the operation is not yet satisfactory. Knowing when to accept the presidency, what to do while there, and when to leave are important job aspects. (MSE)

Characteristics of small college administration as it applies to the future are described. Consideration is given to the process for anticipating change in the circumstances surrounding colleges, identifying opportunities, and planning to take advantage of positive changes in the environment (i.e., future focused planning). The use of the Planning…

An assessment of the Higher Education General Information Survey (HEGIS) reveals that small colleges can benefit from the consistency of standardized responses in creating individual planning data systems. HEGIS has a long enough history to have stabilized its several instruments. However, if one is looking to create student or personnel specific…

Bradford College's experience with curriculum and administrative development in a period of extreme adversity is an example of how a new concept of mission can invigorate an institution while a survival mentality can weaken it. (MSE)

Options available to small universities in Australia in order to maximize their efficiency in lean times are discussed: staying small with better funding; staying small with standard funding; federation with another institution or institutions but with internal differentiation; merger; and closing. (MSE)

Merrimack College (Massachusetts) has abandoned conservative strategies for investing its $16-million endowment, investing more in international stocks and bonds, real estate projects, and small companies to raise annual returns and increase endowment value. The small, Catholic college is heavily dependent on tuition. The diversification plan…

A small, private, liberal arts college whose library had been found unsatisfactory during accreditation transformed the library by placing it in the same reporting structure as academic and administrative computing and telecommunications. Application of strategic planning and organizational theory smoothed the transition by modifying central…