The UC Commission on the Future met today. They have now released their “First Round of Recommendations from the Working Groups.”
The full 150 page PDF can be downloaded from:
http://ucfuture.universityofcalifornia.edu/presentations/cotf_wg_first_recs.pdf
Here is an excerpt from the Executive Summary:
The working groups are issuing this first set of key recommendations early in order to provide adequate time to the Commission for study and to receive input from the UC community and the public. This first round of recommendations should not be considered the complete product of the working groups, however, and the Commission can consider additional ideas beyond those forwarded by the working groups.
Many of these first recommendations pertain to administrative efficiencies and, while it is anticipated they could generate significant revenue and savings (several hundred million dollars), more in-depth analysis will need to be conducted to precisely estimate their financial impact on UC. It must be realized, however, that implementation of these recommendations, if they are eventually adopted, will often require significant up-front costs that may take several years to recapture and to realize increased revenues.
Some of the recommendations in this first report are uncontroversial. Others would represent a sea change for the University and likely would not be considered except for the severe fiscal crisis that UC faces. It is important to note that some ideas have been taken up by multiple working groups, and in several cases different working groups are offering the Commission different perspectives on a given issue. Therefore, the recommendations presented here do not reflect the endorsement of all working groups. The ideas are being shared with the Commission and the UC community for the broader and more extensive discussion they now require.
The working groups’ initial recommendations are detailed in the following pages. Many of the ideas offered in this document can be grouped into one of several topic areas:
• Strategies for improving access and ensuring high-quality education – Recommendations forwarded by individual working groups include creating pathways for three-year undergraduate degrees; continuing exploration of online instruction; providing more predictability in student fees by giving students and parents a tuition schedule for four years; and improving the community college transfer function by streamlining lower-division major requirements and enhancing online advising tools.
• Strategies for enhancing resources available to support the University – Recommendations forwarded by individual working groups include undertaking expanded advocacy activities in support of improved state funding reflective of the benefits the University provides the State of California; improving indirect cost recovery rates on sponsored research, which currently do not cover the University’s actual costs; creating an augmentation to the Pell Grant program in which colleges and universities would receive a federal augmentation for admitting and graduating more low-income students; and investigating the feasibility of campuses charging different student fees (e.g., educational fee, registration fee, non-resident fee, etc.), a strategy undertaken by some multi-campus state systems but one posing special challenges for a system with such high quality across multiple campuses.
• Strategies for ensuring efficient use of resources coming to the University – Recommendations forwarded by individual working groups include promoting efficiencies by implementing a system of best administrative practices across the UC system; managing educational resources more effectively and efficiently; prioritizing internal research funds to support world-class research in disciplines where extramural funding options are limited; and improving transparency in the management of funds recovered through indirect costs.
These and the other working group recommendations contained in this first report will be disseminated for review by and feedback from the Academic Senate, staff, students, and the public over the next two months. The full Commission will review and consider the comments received from these internal and external constituents before it presents a prioritized first round of recommendations to the Regents in July.