The California Community College mission requires offering relevant Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs. Due to program accretion and bureaucratic inertia, program discontinuance (PD) seems at odds with postsecondary culture. Yet, as a result of recent budget constrictions, community colleges are forced to identify effective PD…

Intended for two-year college presidents, deans, or other administrators, faculty, and board members, this publication provides an outline for guidelines for program phase-out. The decision to phase out a program is first considered, as are ways to analyze the reasons for three typical situations that form the basis for phasing out a…

The Netherlands' use of an ad hoc interinstitutional committee of university board members during a period of retrenchment is described which resulted in a plan to close a number of university departments and to terminate many small and not very successful research programs. (MSE)

The history of and issues in Oregon's retrenchment in higher education (resulting from voter-imposed taxing restrictions) are chronicled. Changes made at Portland State University are used to illustrate the program review and termination process occurring statewide. The higher education community's response, faculty and staff morale, and…

Causes contributing to academic program audit and review becoming a means of resource reallocation in higher education are considered, along with principles relevant to its management, and major issues surrounding its development and implementation. The current interest in the audit and review of established academic programs is linked to…

The development of free tuition policy at the City University of New York is traced, focusing on four phases of the policy cycle: initiation, implementation, evaluation, and termination. This study was intended to add to general models of the policy termination process now in circulation. (MLW)

Program discontinuance at colleges and universities is often linked to issues of program demand and quality. However, neither low demand nor low quality is sufficient for program discontinuance without a judgment on the criterion of the centrality of the program to the institution's core mission. Colleges' retrenchment and survival mechanisms…

Issues faced by institutions in many countries in a time of declining funding and increasing demands on higher education are discussed, including national and local academic planning approaches, institutional responsiveness to societal and industry demands, and problems inherent in program discontinuance. (Report of a May 1982 international OECD…

Planning issues for colleges seeking to maintain quality in institutional programs in the face of retrenchment are analyzed, based on a literature review. An extensive bibliography on the following topics is provided: quality (ratings, rankings, reform, institutional goals, and educational outcomes); retrenchment (enrollment decline, faculty,…

This study examines, from an organizational perspective, decision rules guiding program discontinuance, testing the framework of decision rule rationality versus action rationality. A multi-site case study method was used; interviews were conducted with 11-16 individuals at each of four research I or II universities that had discontinued at least…

Most administrators approach program reduction as a budget issue; in reality, it is a governance and planning issue of major importance for the 1980s. Steps in a planning process for program discontinuance (including pitfalls) are described, based on a national study supported by the Exxon Foundation. (Author/LB)

The planning process, objectives, and procedures used by Duke's chancellor during the retrenchment process are summarized. The emphasis was placed on enhancing the university's strengths while reducing costs and on enlisting faculty support and assistance in the change process. (MSE)

Effective ways to handle program discontinuance were studied based on experiences at 10 campuses. Two variables that were considered to be institutional approaches to financial difficulties are the degree of financial difficulty and the degree of control exercised by the institutional leaders. The study sample was drawn primarily from large public…

The origin and extent of program reduction and discontinuance at colleges and universities, the elements of program review, and a framework for developing long-range organizational planning are considered. Program discontinuance refers to the merger of related programs, the elimination of certain degrees or programs within departments, and the…

The retrenchment experiences of a variety of institutions--large and small, public and private--are described and evaluated using an extensive spectrum of case studies sponsored by the Southern Regional Education Board. Part One discusses challenges of retrenchment (James R. Mingle) and strategies for the 1980s (David W. Breneman). Part Two,…