Dynamics of Managing Institutions of Higher Education: Policies and Practices

by

Alan D. Jackson, Jr.

EDD 8007-OL1 CRN 21943

Dynamics of Managing Institutions of Higher Education: Policies and Practices

Nova Southeastern University

October 3, 2010

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Table of Contents

Page

Introduction 03

Institutional Leadership ....................................................................................................................................03The Board of Regents...............................................................................................................03Southern Association of Colleges and Schools........................................................................03The Board of Supervisors.........................................................................................................03

Organization & Management Practices................................................................................................05Importance of an Education.....................................................................................................05Value of a Degree.....................................................................................................................06

Internal/External Influences.................................................................................................................07

Strategic Planning................................................................................................................................08Mission/Goals ..........................................................................................................................08

Budgeting and Planning ......................................................................................................................12

Recommendation for Improving .........................................................................................................13

Conclusion............................................................................................................................................13

References............................................................................................................................................13

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Introduction

In 1967, Southern University at Shreveport made its humble beginnings..  From the

beginning, the priority has been to aid people from diverse backgrounds to improve the quality of

their lives and become contributing participants in this community's cultural and economic

development.  As the needs of the Shreveport/Bossier City metropolitan area have changed over

the years, so   has the Southern University at Shreveport campus and its role as an active

participant in raising the level of excellence for the community.

Throught out this paper it will become evident how this writer institution, Southern

University at Shreveport, address institutional leadership, management, internal/external forces,

strategic and budget planning. Southern University at Shreveport offers a wide array of courses

designed to facilitate admission to four-year senior institutions, address the needs of the work

force development community, upgrade your skills in the latest trends in business and industry

through credit and non-credit courses, provide short-range training programs designed for the

working professional, or simply enhance your learning for the joy of it.  Southern University at

Shreveport has it all!

Surviving change of institutional leadership, management, internal/external forces,

strategic and budget planning remains the issue of Higher Education Institutions. The growing

importance of knowledge in the world today and the ever greater numbers of people being

trained at the higher level has increased higher education's responsibility and its influence within

society. Politics, power, money and the law all are directly responsible for the changes in the

higher education sector, as well as, higher education’s impact on society. However, regardless

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of society demands, institutions of higher education still must assume responsibility and be held

accountable to its institutional mission, goals and objectives.

The mission of Higher Education should always cater to the needs of society. Higher

education must strengthen and target more effectively its contribution to human development.

Higher Education should be held accountable for the sharing of knowledge, the reduction of

inequalities at the international and the national levels, to combating exclusion and

unemployment, and to the eradication of poverty and the various forms of exploitation and

discrimination (Conley, D. T. 2003). Accountability is needed to ensure all parties involved that

are in the higher education process are receiving due diligence regardless of politics, power, and

money.

Institutional LeadershipBoard of Regents

The 15 volunteer members of the Board of Regents are appointed by the Governor to six-

year, overlapping terms, with at least one (but not more than two) Regents drawn from each of

Louisiana's seven Congressional districts.  In addition, the Louisiana Council of Student Body

Presidents appoints one student member as its representative on the board.

Policies and decisions of the Board of Regents are administered by a full-time staff headed by

the Commissioner of Higher Education. The Board of Regents meets monthly, unless otherwise

specified. Meetings are open to the public. See 2010 Board of Regents Leaders below:

Artis L. Terrell, Jr. (Chairman)P.O. Box 1114Shreveport, LA 71163

Robert Levy (Vice Chair)P.O. Box 777Ruston, LA 71273

Mary Ellen Roy (Secretary)

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Member-At-Large365 Canal Place, #2000New Orleans, LA 7013

Louisiana Constitution authorizes the Board of Regents to plan, coordinate, and have

budgetary responsibility for Louisiana’s public higher education community, including 19 public

colleges, universities, and/or professional schools. The responsibilities of the Board of Regents

and those of the four management boards are carefully drawn to ensure a balance and distinction

between coordinating, planning and policy-making, and management implementation. 

The 1974 Louisiana Constitution gives the Board of Regents the following authority:

To review or eliminate existing degree programs or departments; To approve, disapprove, or modify proposed academic programs or departments; To study both the need for and feasibility of new postsecondary institutions as well as the

conversion of existing schools into campuses offering more advanced courses of study; To formulate and update a master plan for higher education (which must include a higher

education funding formula); and To review annual budget proposals for the operating and capital needs of each public

institution prior to compilation of the Regents' higher education budget recommendations.  The Board also recommends priorities for capital construction and improvements.

The Constitution provides that all duties and responsibilities not specifically vested in the

Board of Regents be assigned to the respective management boards.  This carefully drawn

division of responsibility enables the Board of Regents to chart general academic and fiscal

directions for higher education in Louisiana without becoming unnecessarily entangled in the

day-to-day mechanics of operating college campuses.

Thus, in practice, the Board of Regents' determines what academic programs an

institution may offer and assesses the quality and need for those programs, but the management

boards oversee instructional operations; the Regents administer the funding formula and set

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guidelines for preparing campus budgets, but the management boards have the responsibility of

preparing and administering those budgets; the Regents set tenure standards that the university

systems must meet or exceed, but only the management boards may approve campus personnel

actions.

The Board of Regents is responsible for a wide range of planning, policy-making, and

coordinating activities, touching every aspect of higher education operations.  To facilitate the

handling of this broad spectrum of activities, the agency is organized into divisions--Planning,

Research and Performance; Academic and Student Affairs; Finance and Facilities, Public

Affairs, Administration, and Sponsored Programs.

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Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SCACS)

In Louisiana the location of this writer institution the accreditation agency is known as

the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). The Southern Association of

Colleges and Schools is one of six private, nonprofit, regional accrediting associations

recognized by the Department of Education. It was founded in 1895 for the purpose of improving

education in colleges and schools. SACS is comprised of three commissions, one of which is the

Commission on Colleges (COC). The COC accredits institutions of higher education in eleven

southern states (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina,

South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia) and Latin America that award associate,

Baccalaureate, masters or doctoral degrees.

Accreditation by the COC ensures to the public that an institution meets standards

established by the higher education community, has a purpose appropriate to higher education

and has the resources, programs and services sufficient to accomplish its purpose on a continuing

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basis. Accreditation evaluates whether an institution maintains clearly specified educational

objectives consistent with its mission and whether it is successful in achieving its stated

objectives. The Commission has been a leader in defining and implementing the concept of

“institutional effectiveness” in higher education and is known for having the most stringent

requirements.

Board of Supervisors

This writer institution Southern University at Shreveport is one of five campuses in the

Southern University System. The Southern University Board of Supervisors speak as one voice

of behave of this writer institution as well as all other institution in the Southern University

System.

The Board of Supervisors for the Southern University and Agricultural and Mechanical

College System was created by the Louisiana State Constitution of 1974. The Board is vested

with the responsibility via the Constitution and State Revised Statutes for the management and

supervision of the institutions of higher education, statewide agricultural programs and other

programs which comprise the Southern University System. Its powers are subject only to those

which are granted by the State Constitution to the Louisiana State Board of Regents.

The Southern University Board of Supervisors are elected positions in which all members

of the Southern University System has a vote. The elected officials have a duty to make decision

that will best benefit all the campuses as a whole. The Board of Supervisors repots to the

Louisiana Board of Regents described above.

Organization & Management Practices

Importance of Education

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Over the course of the 20th century, the United States became the world's unquestioned

economic leader, and the two- and four-year public and private colleges and universities were

central to that accomplishment. Higher education in the United States has always had a diverse

and competitive education system of part public institutions, part private institutions, and has

functioned at least partially as a market (Newman et al., 2004). Particularly after World War II,

these institutions extended higher education to a greatly expanded swath of the American

population, creating the workforce that made our economic growth possible. The system had its

flaws, of course, not least of which was its failure to include many low-income and minority

Americans. Nonetheless, its successes were great, and it could be claim without exaggeration

that it was the best in the world (Tierney, 2006).

The blood line of the Higher Education system is students. The blood line of the

economy is skilled workers, as a result of Higher Education teaching and training. If our nation

and our states can't assure employers a large and growing labor pool of people with

competencies beyond those taught in high school, other nations assuredly will (Tierney, 2006).

As Governor Mark Warner of Virginia, chair of the National Governors Association, recently

said, "Knowledge-based jobs are going to go where the knowledge workers are." And the

promise of economic growth and prosperity is going to go with them.

Public colleges and universities simply offer a product that was crucial to the past,

essential for the future and necessary for a chance at success in today’s society. This

controversial product is accumulated knowledge that is documented by a piece paper known as a

certificate or degree.

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Value of a Degree

Research has shown that an individual possessing a college degree makes a significant

amount of money than those individuals without college degrees. The collapsing of the job

market in today economic recession is forcing students from all ethnicity back to college. Job

lost has forced individuals to learn a new trade and acquire new knowledge; both of which can

be provided in college. The success of colleges and universities has cause academic faculty and

administration to dislike the word change because they believe that their institutions are insulated

from harm (Rowley et al., 1997).

People with no education or training beyond high school are unlikely to even be

considered for jobs that support a middle-class life. Instead, they fill most of the nation's low-

wage service jobs. Newman et al., (2004) states that, "A college diploma has now become a

required ticket for entry into the middle class" (p. 56)."Education and training beyond high

school" is a broad and inclusive concept, but whether we are talking about an educational path

that leads to a specialist certificate or to a Ph.D., higher education is no longer just the most

direct route to a middle-class life; it has become essentially the only route. It has become a

necessity. The importance of education and the value of a degree has impacted this writer

University policy and procedures practices. All member of this writer department have been

given the authority to create and adopt policies for the benefit of the students and the university.

Each staff member is responsible for different federal and state programs. As a result, the

members are held accountable for developing institutional policies that complement both federal

and state policies. All policies are required to be in a written format. Informal, non-written

policies are unacceptable according to the Department of Education.

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Internal/External Influences

Federal/ State Investment

The initial relationship between higher education and government was simply, translated

by the education community as “Give us money and leave us alone” (Greenburg, 2008). Colleges

and Universities depend on state and federal funds to operate. The government sees institutions

of higher learning as a much needed investment. The students who graduate from these

institutions will one day directly contribute their expertise and knowledge to the same

government that made the education possible. Higher education as an investment it is only

logical that the government would want to protect their investment.

The monetary resources are the blood line of the institutions. Monetary recourses

acquired by administrators in higher education whether it is state funds, federal funds, or in kind

gift are issued to the institution of higher education on a contingent basis. It is not enough to

merely obtain the money to support the institution; it must be assured that the recourses are spent

in accordance with the institution guidelines, as well as, state and federal laws (Barr, 2002).

This writer organization is an institution of higher education that is funded by the state

and federal government. In order to be eligible recipients of state and federal funds in higher

education institutions must be in compliance with federal and states policies. As a result both

state and federal agencies have substantial internal and external influences on the University.

Strategic Planning

Mission/Goals

The writer’s institution mission statement states “this University seeks to provide a

quality education for its students (while being committed to the total community).” This

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institution awards certificates and associate degrees, prepares students for careers in technical

and occupational fields, and offers courses and programs that are transferable to other colleges

and universities. Dedicated to excellence in instruction and community service, this open

enrollment institution promotes cultural diversity, provides development, continuing education,

and seeks partnerships with businesses and industries. The university intends that all individuals

should,” have the opportunity to receive educational experiences and related services which are

compatible with their varied interests, academic abilities, achievements, family backgrounds,

motivations, needs, and goals.”

The writer institution is committed to serving as a customer driven institution according

to its mission statement. The mission statement stated above is similar in purpose with other

institutions of higher education mission statements. Its purpose is for the benefit of the

university, the community, and most importantly the students.

Institutions aspire to be more autonomous; however, they are obligated to comply with

bureaucratic rule. Constructive interaction of the principal social actors with higher education,

with due respect for its purpose and its institutional autonomy, is becoming increasingly

necessary to enable its missions to fulfill optimum effect (Institute for Higher Education Policy,

2005).

Colleges and Universities depend on state and federal funds to operate and carry out its

mission statement. The government invests a significance amount of monies into the institution

of higher education; therefore, they feel justified in having a say so in the operating policy and

procedures of these institutions. According to Burke et al., (2005), colleges and universities have

question the ethics of the associated pressures generated by the bureaucratic rules and funding.

Although, the initial relationship between higher education and government was simple,

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translated by the education community as “Give us money and leave us alone” (Greenburg,

2008). This presupposes that higher education is aware of the needs and aspirations of society

and the various groups and of longer-term world trends.

Over the past three years, this institution has honored it mission statement well.

Enrollment has steadily increased reach records numbers in 2008. The graduation rate has also

improved drastically. This current academic year this institution achieve a 100% pass exam rate

for its nursing students. A good mission statement is a regulatory tool that may be used to show

accountability. It is necessary for the individuals, who represent the institution, achieve the goals

and visions outline in the mission statement.

Budgeting and Planning

Importance of Organization Budgeting

In order to properly acquire, sustain, and facilitate the recourses needed by higher

education, institution budgeting, and financial knowledge must be acquired (Barr, 2002).

Budgeting is a process of forecasting expected sales, profits, expenses, and cash flow. Financial

budgeting is an essential tool to control and evaluate performance of business on an ongoing

basis. Budgeting improves financial planning and efficiency of governance, assists in preparing

for emergencies or unforeseen expenses, it enables you to take secure financial decisions, reveals

areas of over expenditure, and most importantly it keeps you away from the threat of debt.

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The current recession, has institutions of higher education facing lay-offs as a result of

state and federal budget cuts, as well as an influx of student flooding theirs campus because of

lack of job opportunity. Institutions of higher education are required to serve more students with

less personnel and funding. Mastering budgeting for administrators is more important than ever.

If state budgets remain tight or become even tighter—at a time when college has become the

gateway to full participation in American life—will the states and colleges maintain college

opportunity for Americans?

Recommendation for Improving

University improvement must always start with accountability. The pressure for

accountability in higher education varies from university to university. The power of these forces

can no longer be ignored. Eckel and Kezar suggested that, financial pressures, accountability,

societal influence, growth in technology, changing faculty roles, public scrutiny, changing

demographics and competition in the world will force more institutions over the next several

decades to engage in institutional transformation, accountability that must be addressed. (2005)

Wergin (1994) asserted that the accountability of an institution hinges upon the

institution’s ability to focus its missions, define what makes it unique, and rally its faculty

around a shorter and sharper list of goals. It is a general belief that change will be embraced by

those affected only if they are involved in the process of determining the changes to be made and

the implementation of those changes. Effective leaders need to be capable of reframing the

thinking of those whom they guide, enabling them to see that significant changes are not only

imperative but also achievable. It is ordinary people who will make continuous improvements

happen.

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Accountability requires change; a change occurs because individuals see a need to grow,

learn, and change their behavior. If people are not inclined toward change, they will create

barriers to the change, making it difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. Continuous improvement

does not happen on its own. To be effective, change must focus on eliminating roots opposed to

repeatedly fixing symptoms. “Restructuring” is the term Fullan (2006, pp. 11) used when

discussing accountability. He described a particular kind of restructuring: “one that activates and

deepens moral purpose through collaborative work cultures that respect differences and

constantly build and test knowledge against measurable results, a culture within which one

realizes that sometimes being off balance is a learning moment” (pp. 12). He stated,

“Restructuring is a contact sport that involves hard, labor-intensive work” (pp. 12).

In an effort of becoming more accountable, a college or university must first assess the

quality of its programs of teaching and learning, research, service to the community, and the

availability of funds. Gathering institutional data and the assessment of where the institution

currently stands is normally undertaken internally and; therefore, dependent upon the resources

of the institution. It involves individuals with professional knowledge of everything from

management to organizational psychology and policy analysis. Colleges and universities

traditionally have made their way through master planning without looking beyond their own

communities for assistance.

In addressing accountability an institution must understand the nature of its problem.

Questions central to this understanding include: “How might we improve the institution? Will

students be benefited? Is it necessary to our survival? Would that bring competitiveness with

other colleges and universities in the region and the nation? What are our aspirations and goals?”

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(Eckel and Kezar 2005). Ultimately, the answers to these questions will ensure accountability

and determine a course of action that will address the problems the institution faces.

Conclusion

While institutional leadership, management, internal/external forces, strategic and budget

planning affects higher education in various ways, improving educational attainment has become

a matter of great national urgency. Educators, the public, and our elected representatives need to

develop ways of addressing the questions of accountability that help us make progress toward the

national goal – greater educational attainment with no compromise on quality. Legally, Higher

Education institutions should be held accountable; however, a law should also be passed for the

government and society to assist these institutions during economic downturns. Never has the

expansion of education in general and higher education in particular been so necessary to society

for its normal functioning, its development and its economic, social, cultural, moral and political

well-being as it is at present. Yet society seems reluctant to give education, especially higher

education, the continued resources that would enable it to fulfill its mission satisfactorily.

In every economic downturn, higher education funding is one of the first cut issued by

society’s state and federal government. If this contradiction, of higher education importance, is

not overcome, its negative consequences will, in the twenty-first century, seriously impede

colleges and universities ability to carry out their mission and philosophies. Politics, power,

money and the law will continue to affect institution of higher education. Research suggest the

need for higher education to truly re-think its role in society and re-invent itself to more fully

engage in that role now and in the future. The risks of taking that course of action are substantial,

but the risks of not taking it are even greater.

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References

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Burke, J. C., & Associates. (2005). Achieving accountability in higher education. San Francisco, CA. Jossey-Bass.

Conley, D. T. (2003). Understanding university success. Retrieved March 19, 2008 from www.s4s.org/understanding_success .pdf \

Eckel, P. D., & Kezar, A. (2005). Taking the reins: Institutional transformation in higher education. Westport, CT: Praeger

Fritschler, A.  (2007, May). Government Should Stay Out of Accreditation. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 53(37), B.20.  Retrieved January 24, 2010, from Research Library. (Document ID: 1283159841

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Institute for Higher Education Policy. (2005). The investment payoff: A 50 state analysis of the public and private benefits of higher education. Retrieved April 12, 2008 from www.ihep.org/Pubs/PDF/InvestmentPayoff2005 .pdf

Newman, F., Couturier, L., & Scurry, J. (2004). The future of higher education: Rhetoric, reality, and the risks of the market. San Francisco, CA. Jossey-Bass.

Rowley, D. J., LuJan, H. D., & Dolence, M. G. (1997). Strategic change in colleges and universities: Planning to survive and prosper. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

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Tierney, T. The National Public Policy and Higher Education (2006). How Is American Higher Education Measuring Up? An Outsider's Perspective

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Wergin, S. (1994). The collaborative department: How five campuses are inching toward cultures of collective responsibility. Washington, DC: American Association for Higher Education.