The University of Alaska Fairbanks will get rid of six degree offerings in an effort to save the school millions of dollars, Inside Higher Ed reported.
School officials have opted to cut the engineering management, science management and philosophy degrees to trim at least $14 million from the school's budget next year. Certain degree offerings in music, chemistry and sociology will also be eliminated.
"We wish it was not necessary to reduce the number of programs we offer, but our state budget scenario leaves us few choices," school officials said in a statement. "We will be facing cutbacks across campus, in addition to these, and are working hard to ensure we preserve as many academic programs as possible, as they are core to our mission as a university."
Last November, school officials assembled a list of 45 academic degree programs to be "scrutinized for possible savings,"newsminer.com reported. The programs were selected because they had seen enrollment decreases of more than 30 percent in the past five years or had low numbers of graduates relative to enrollment.
The review process drew on a variety of resources, including institutional research data and reports prepared by the program. The final decision on which programs to eliminate was made by the Chancellor's Cabinet and based on the committees' recommendations and those resources.
According to school officials, the impact of these cuts won't be immediate. Although the eliminated programs won't be admitting new enrollees, faculty in these programs must "teach out" current students "as they advance toward graduation to maintain its accreditation," newsminer.com reported.
