"Higher education is at a crossroads," Kelly Baxley declared as he introduced the plenary session at the APPA 2013 conference in Minneapolis last August. "The sector urgently needs to innovate because becoming a savvy user of technology is now a requirement, regardless of industry or career path. The vast proliferation of mobile…

Reports on a conference of college facility managers at which facilities professionals identified forces affecting the profession's future in five areas (information technology, resource scarcity, societal changes, government role in education, environmental deterioration) and six important roles for the manager (operational efficiency expert,…

Argues that facilities managers, used to thinking of their work in terms of services, must begin to look at it in terms of specific products, and offers examples. Describes the application process (product identification, customer identification, organizational design, and implementation) and results of product-based management at the University…

Delineates the enrollment, program, and funding factors that contributed to a facilities crisis in the Fairfax County Public Schools, explains the planning process implemented to address them, and offers suggestions for adaptation by other institutions of learning. The focus is on the need to be proactive, to scan the environment for change, and…

Reports research on trends in computer-aided facilities management using the Internet and geographic information system (GIS) technology for space utilization research. Proposes that facility assessment software holds promise for supporting facility management decision making, and outlines four areas for its use: inventory; evaluation; reporting;…

As China undertakes substantial planned educational growth, the challenges of university physical plant administration include adaptation of space utilization analysis and planning techniques, improved economies of scale, increased dependence on community support for housing and other services, increased efficiency in construction, more preventive…

Describes the principles, aims, and structure of the new Western Governors University, a regional effort to provide timely, accessible education by offering competency-based degrees, using advanced educational technology to provide learning opportunities, fostering interstate and public-private cooperation in development of new instructional…