What issues and trends in the internal and external environment will have an impact on Kent State University to the end of this decade?
and,
What issues, problems, and opportunities should be considered the highest priorities for Kent State University during the next three to five years if the University is to be positioned appropriately for the year 2000?
It is noteworthy that several environmental implications for Kent State University are linked to the priorities for higher education presented by the Ohio Board of Regents in its guidelines for The Concept and Preparation of a Functional Mission (April 1993), priorities which Kent State University embraces:
Kent State University's system of Regional Campuses represents an excellent extension of the University and a potential response to the increasing tendency for many students to pursue an education at a two- year institution prior to attending a four-year institution. Each fall approximately 2,800 new freshmen are admitted to Regional Campuses, many of whom are interested in pursuing a bachelor's degree. For the linkages between the Regional Campuses and the Kent Campus to be enhanced, program articulation between campuses and accommodations at the Kent Campus for nontraditional students must be improved. The Regional Campuses represent a point of entry into postsecondary education at slightly lower cost.
Changes in the family structure will also affect the University. For example, an increase in single-parent students is likely to increase the demand for day-care services. Such demographic changes necessitate a rethinking of the type of programs and services the University provides to students and the ways in which they are delivered. Further, faculty and staff will need to recognize the differing but legitimate expectations of the "new student." Marketing strategies will also need revision if this "new student" is to be recruited effectively.
The Kent Campus draws most of its undergraduate students from within a ninety-mile radius. The traditional university focuses on eighteen- to twenty-four-year-old, full-time students who live in the residence halls. The best prepared traditional students will be recruited heavily and most likely will make choices influenced by the financial assistance offered by competing institutions. While the competition among Northeast Ohio's colleges and universities for top students has increased in recent years and can be expected to continue, the excellent living-learning environment at the Kent Campus is unique among public institutions in Northeast Ohio. Thus, the University has much to offer potential students seeking a residential experience. Further, the Kent State University system helps make Kent the prominent university of Northeast Ohio. Regional Campuses have played and can play an even more notable role in ensuring that the University competes well for the best among the "new" and traditional students throughout Northeast Ohio.
In addition to changes in the student pool, the University will be affected by demographic changes among current and potential faculty members. The average age of the faculty will increase, and the pool of minority faculty will grow.
The Public Perception of Higher Education is a major external factor that Kent State University must address. While there remains a positive public attitude toward higher education in Ohio, this positive perception is not manifested in tax support to the extent it once was, primarily because of other pressing social needs requiring tax revenue. A 1992 survey of Ohio citizens' attitudes about public universities sponsored by the Inter-University Council of Ohio (and echoed in a recent American Council on Education study spanning 1989- 93) indicates that a reservoir of good will exists for higher education. There is appreciation of the value of higher education, but this appreciation is tempered by public concern that the cost of a college degree will soon be beyond the reach of middle-class Americans. Several important views expressed by Ohioans follow:
An increasingly burdensome Regulatory Environment for higher education at federal and state levels is beginning to take its toll in Ohio at a time when support for higher education as a percentage of the state's budget has declined. In the past, Kent State University has met its regulatory obligations, but when present trends are viewed in the aggregate, future demands on the institution's infrastructure are significant. If present trends continue, the University will need to devote significant additional attention to the regulatory environment. Continuing efforts and resources will be required to meet standards established in such legislation as the Americans with Disabilities Act, Worker Compensation Laws, and the Immigration Reform and Control Act, to name but a few new regulatory measures. The Student Right to Know and Campus Security Act of 1991 requires additional record keeping and reporting for higher education. Physical plant operations will be affected by legislation such as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act and the reform of Office of Safety and Health Administration standards, which require public facilities previously exempt from compliance to meet the same criteria set for the private sector. The transport and disposal of hazardous materials is another area which is increasingly regulated and expensive to manage.
There is also increasing federal focus on conflict of interest issues for faculty and staff members who have financial interests in technologies and/or spin-off companies, or unusual consulting arrangements; scientific misconduct and the related issue of research ethics; and auditing requirements on grants and contract expenditures. Regional accrediting associations are under some pressure to become regulatory instruments of the federal government. Discipline- based associations continue to create their own sets of regulatory conditions.
Perhaps the major regulatory pressure facing Ohio higher education is from the State itself, where a clear trend toward less institutional autonomy and additional regulatory requirements is evident. In this context, the autonomy under which Kent State University and its Board of Trustees operates appears to be eroding. Legislators have demonstrated an increasing interest in faculty teaching loads and may legislate outcomes assessment. The Ohio Board of Regents has stated its intent to assume and be accountable for a stronger coordinating role. Mandates on program duplication, faculty productivity, and performance standards for regional campuses are examples of a more intrusive approach by the Ohio Board of Regents in the governance of higher education.
Another major environmental factor for the remainder of this decade centers on the number and type of jobs that will be needed. According to Ohio Bureau of Employment Services (February 1993) Labor Market Projections,
...to the year 2000, above-average growth will continue for jobs requiring relatively high levels of education or training. More than half a million new jobs are projected, but the increase is likely to be slower than the 1982-91 growth, due largely to slower labor-force expansion.
Of occupational categories requiring postsecondary education and training, those employed in managerial, professional, para-professional, and technical occupations represented slightly more than one-fourth of total employment in 1991. Jobs in these same categories are expected to account for two-fifths of the increase in employment between 1991 and 2000. Most employment expansion will be in the service sector of the economy, with the computer and data-processing services industry projected to experience the fastest growth.
Other rapidly growing areas for employment include most other business services, most health-related industries, legal services, management, public relations, and accounting services. The labor market projections for 1991-2000 suggest that occupations projected to grow rapidly include paralegal personnel, computer systems analysts, computer engineers, physical therapists, human services workers, radiologic technicians, medical assistants, and data-processing equipment repairers. The largest number of new jobs will be in eating and drinking places, private hospitals, nursing and personal-care facilities, local government, education, and personnel supply services. College graduates entering the labor force from 1990-2005 will find increased competition for positions requiring college degrees. It has even been suggested that college graduates may crowd out others who would normally fill positions not requiring a college degree. This will put increasing pressure on universities to ensure that students have the skills expected by employers.
Of course, Price, Access, and Reputation are factors in projecting the overall environment of the nineties for Kent State University. According to the Ohio Board of Regents' Securing the Future of Higher Education in Ohio, within the state of Ohio the tuition level is about 50 percent above the national average and the average adult worker is nearly 20 percent less likely than the average American to have had education beyond the high-school diploma.
Students will increasing become careful "shoppers" with high expectations, including convenience and a customer orientation. Discretionary income is not readily available to this group. Tuition-paying parents will be increasingly involved in the college choice, expecting up- to-date laboratories, competent advising, and effective faculty. In such an environment, which will certainly continue to the year 2000, the University's job-placement record will be increasingly important to prospective students and their families. Also, exemplary teaching and advising are potentially powerful drawing cards for the University.
The implications of the rapid developments in computer and information technology for universities are not fully evident today, but it is clear that Teaching Media in the Year 2000 will have been affected greatly by new technologies. There will be new paradigms for the delivery of instruction. All viable institutions will need to embrace these new paradigms.
Electronic teaching media represent potential opportunities, as well as notable challenges for Kent State University. While Robert and Jon Solomon state in Up the University [Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1993, p. 119] that there is no good substitute for good conversation, that may not be the view held by students who will enter the University at ease with a dazzling array of electronic devices.
Immediate potential rests in an educational network that can link the University's eight campuses and bring master teachers of the University to more Ohioans. Distance learning can incorporate a wide range of technological tools and applications, and faculty resources can be shared among campuses. Live, two-way audio and video interactivity can provide video conferencing among campuses. Fiber-optic cable networks can link campuses, and multimedia communications can enhance classroom teaching through integrated CD-ROMs, video recorders, laser discs, and computer graphics.
In the foreseeable future, Pressures on Faculty and Staff will be evident in several arenas. Expectations for "greater" teaching loads will continue, and faculty members will be expected to employ the latest technology in instructional activities. Attention will have to be given to maintaining good faculty and staff morale in the face of a flat resource base and limited replacement of faculty positions. Cultural differences among faculty and staff as well as the increasing presence of nontraditional students at the Kent Campus will require new sensitivities and better understanding of the challenges of diversity.
Considering current trends, existing resources, competitive position, and marketing strategy, the University should plan to achieve gradually its Kent Campus enrollment/recruitment goals of more selective admission requirements and a more diverse student body. Improved retention and graduation rates, coupled with better-prepared new students, are the most prudent, immediate path to enhancing the University's reputation for quality academic programs and student services.
In 1991-92, Kent State University, its employees, students, and visitors spent an estimated $400.3 million in Ohio. Because these dollars were spent at least one more time, on the average, the total annual impact of this spending was more than nine times greater than the State's $85.5 million investment in the university. Nonetheless, projections suggest that higher education in Ohio may not receive any significant increase in state funding for the remainder of the decade. Capital construction projects may be limited, and capital appropriations may be concentrated on remodeling and renovation projects. Real growth in spending for higher education in Ohio may increasingly be related to special line-item projects, such as excellence programs and equipment needs. While the subsidy model--a time-tested approach to the equitable distribution of state funds to higher education-- may change, changes may not result in significant additional appropriations to Kent State University.
Just as state support is unlikely to increase appreciably, assistance from the federal government is not projected to increase. While federal financial support for higher education may be level to the end of the decade, opportunities do exist for some departments and schools to pursue research and sponsored program funding, particularly those which have not availed themselves of these funding sources to any great extent.
The region from which Kent draws most of its students is both rural and urban: five counties are largely rural, and the remaining eleven counties are grouped into the Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas of Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown-Warren, Canton, and Lorain-Elyria. Because this region is more industrialized than the state as a whole, it has been more adversely affected by the structural changes in the economy. These changes have led to financial anxiety, and the typical Kent State University student will be highly sensitive to fee increases. Additionally, federal Pell and OIG programs have not kept pace with increasing costs, thereby forcing more students into loan programs. While new direct-loan programs and national service initiatives may develop as potential opportunities for student support, it may be some time before these programs can help contain escalating costs to students. Thus, students will be increasingly cost conscious, and specific value will have to be demonstrated and publicized if tuition and fees continue to increase more rapidly than the rate of inflation. Tuition and fees have of necessity increased at Kent State University to such an extent that students now bear approximately 52 percent of the cost of their education.
Private support for the University has expanded with endowed chairs and scholarships. In selected areas, private dollars can provide essential support for the University. While it cannot rely on private support for basic operating expenses, the University should look to private funding as a means to enhance significantly programs of considerable merit.
An important feature in coping with a somewhat unfavorable economic environment is the willingness to change. The long held view that higher education would perpetually be in a growth mode has resulted in program additions, overly specialized curricula, and a belief that all academic and service needs can be accommodated. Arguably, Kent State University has too many programs to support considering the resources available to it, both now and for the future.
Considering probable economic trends, recent University decisions to discontinue certain degree programs and consolidate several administrative units (including merging three language departments into the new Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies and the Graduate College and the Division of Research and Sponsored Programs into the single Division of Research and Graduate Studies) represent actions that recognize the present and projected long-term fiscal environment. There is a growing sense at Kent State University that the academic culture can change from one that reinforces continual growth and expansion to one with greater focus.
Effective, Efficient, and Service-Oriented Management Practices within the University
With a level resource base and a highly competitive recruiting environment, Kent State University management practices will become even more important to the year 2000. According to Richard Chait in an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education [September 22, 1993], universities must "do the ordinary extraordinarily well." Ultimately, every employee (faculty, administrative, and support-staff member) and student represents the University. Those who answer telephones, collect fees, and serve food are the first and frequent points of contact for students, their families, and alumni. An administrative approach that fixes problems will be more effective than one that fixes blame. The University community, too, must recognize that the current skepticism about certain aspects of higher education is not without foundation.
All members of the University community, as well as alumni, need to be effective goodwill ambassadors of the University.