PUBLIC UNIVERSITIES, IMITATING PRACTICES USED IN BUSINESS,
FIND WAYS TO STRETCH DOLLARS WHILE ENHANCING TEACHING

	CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Jan. 16 -- Even in tight fiscal times,
colleges and universities can employ strategies that preserve
teaching, research and public service, say the authors of a recently
published book who point to the University of Virginia as a model of
innovation. 
	In "Strategies for Promoting Excellence in a Time of Scarce
Resources," U.Va. faculty and graduate students in the Curry School
of Education and the Center for the Study of Higher Education
describe the ways colleges and universities facing reduced funding
are finding and using resources.
	Public colleges and universities are increasingly promoting
industrial parks, real-estate investing, contract research and other
ventures that generate revenue, the authors note. More than 100
colleges and universities now report income from patents; 10 of the
top 20 institutions in licensing income are public universities. 
	"Public colleges and universities are increasingly imitating
the successful strategies of private enterprises," write education
professor Jay L. Chronister and doctoral students E. Clorisa
Phillips and Christina Morell.
	Public colleges and universities are redefining how they do
business in three broad ways:  decentralization of operations from
the state, privatization of service operations, and implementation
of private business practices. "Public universities are taking steps
to reinforce academic excellence, aggressively pursue private
revenue, and define new ways of doing business.  It is this
combination of integrated strategies that some say is turning major
public universities into quasi-private institutions," note
Chronister, Phillips and Morell. 
	"It is a phenomenon that is not well documented or well
understood. However, anecdotal information suggests that major
public research universities, such as Michigan, UCLA and U.Va., are
transforming themselves," Chronister, Phillips and Morell point out. 
	Public colleges and universities also have responded to
cutbacks in state funding by: tightening expenditure controls and
managing budget items, changing academic programs, and increasing
other sources of revenue through fundraising, tuition increases and
revenue-generating ventures. The authors describe these methods in
the book's eight essays. 
	"Specific performance measures are being developed [at
U.Va.] for each administrative decentralization and
process-simplification initiative to chart progress in three areas:
service improvements, dollars saved through better procedures and
dollars saved through reductions in full time equivalent positions
and operating expenses," writes doctoral student Richard S. Myers.
	The restructuring that higher education institutions have
implemented has not been easy, but the process can be rewarding,
Myers says.  He notes that some institutions, such as U.Va., have
streamlined, decentralized and automated many administrative
functions, using the savings to support academic initiatives. 
	Many universities have funded efforts to increase faculty
collaboration and discussion of teaching through restructuring
savings. For example, Myers notes, U.Va. is using more than $125,000
reallocated through restructuring to fund its University Teaching
Fellows Program, an initiative in which assistant professors are
teamed with senior mentors to develop new courses and explore
teaching across the disciplines. 
	"By examining higher education institutions, we realized
that U.Va. is employing many innovations that improve its management
while, at the same time, enhance the quality of its teaching and
research," observed Curry School Dean David W. Breneman. 
	He and education professor Alton L. Taylor are editors of
the book, which is part of a "New Directions for Higher Education"
series that is published quarterly by Josey-Bass Inc. 
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January 15, 1997
	For more information, contact David Breneman at (804)
924-3332; Jay Chronister, Clorisa Phillips and Christina Morell at
(804) 924-0733; Richard Myers at (804) 924-3728; or Alton Taylor at
(804) 924-3371.  Television reporters should call our TV News Office
at (804) 924-7550.