The Connecticut State Colleges and Universities System announced its plan to merge the administration departments of all schools into one. This was considered the best move considering the foreseen budget cuts.
During the recession in 2008, colleges and universities had to make do with reduced allocations. Higher educational institutions struggled to survive. In many instances, they always have to do more with less as government support for state colleges and universities was down by $10 billion compared to what they were receiving prior to the recession, New York Times reported.
Since 2008, there was very little improvement on the situation. Just recently, more budget cuts are being expected under the new administration. State colleges and universities need to find new measures to keep the schools going. All state colleges and universities had to come up with cost cutting measures to continue providing quality education to students.
Mark Ojakian, president of CSCU systems believed that with budget cuts coming, the system cannot maintain its current structure and survive. There is a need to make some changes that would bring savings. The primary concern of the schools belonging to the system are the students. It is the role of school leaders to find ways to continue delivering quality education despite financial constraints, CT Post reported.
Ojakian's proposal was to have only one administrative and support services department for all universities. This will reduce the number of employees and increase savings. However, the schools under the system continue to operate according to their mission and goals. They will also remaiin in their geographical locations.
Accounting for all institutions could be done by just one accounting department. Recruitment for teachers in all schools could be easily done by another. All transactions could be done online such as payment of fees and requests for student records.
This measure can cut costs for Connecticut State Colleges and Universities System by around $40 million. Cutting costs through consolidation of administration of all schools will have long term benefits as well.
