The evidence is in, and it’s disconcerting: UNC employee salaries are beyond the pale. University leaders need to zero in on plum administrative jobs that have little to do with education and eliminate them posthaste. Even in the case of necessary administrative functions, officials should consider consolidation and outsourcing. If the latest data are an indicator, there is much to be reined in.
Today, given the evidence we have of substandard learning outcomes, the longstanding assumption that colleges are adequately preparing students for life and work should be called into question by those who oversee our universities. If universities wish to avoid micromanagement of curricula, they must provide more information about learning outcomes. If they don’t do so voluntarily, pressure from legislators, governing boards, employers, students, and parents will likely force them to act.
If you think that universities are not making the best use of endowment funds, you should look to persuasion rather than government regulation. There are many ways of trying to convince presidents, trustees, and other college leaders that they should change their approaches to the use of their endowments; that would be vastly better than turning to a recently proposed federal mandate.
In trying to avoid liability for “sexual harassment” under Title IX regulations, many schools have gone way too far. They have allowed hyper-sensitive or vindictive students to use the regulations as a weapon against anyone whose speech offends or annoys them.
North Carolina’s community college “earnings gains” measure may make the community colleges look good to those who do not look too closely, but it does not tell us much about how good they actually are. The system needs to go back to the drawing board; the new measure is more public relations than a true measure of performance.
The ultimate responsibility in higher education rests with the governing boards of trustees. If trustees are to be thoughtful overseers, they need to be informed about the role of the board, higher education issues generally, and the challenges facing their state and their campuses. Their knowledge of such matters cannot be taken for granted; they need focused, ongoing education.
So far, Mitch Daniels has managed to skillfully navigate the treacherous waters of academic politics and actually get some things accomplished. By really leading, instead of following the pack, he may be paving the way for other non-traditional university presidents at a time when the status quo is no longer enough.
Results from an employer survey suggest that graduates of North Carolina’s 16 public universities—especially those from less selective schools—are deficient in terms of their written and oral communication, work ethic, and workplace etiquette. Such problems are serious matters, and they must be addressed in ways that reflect that seriousness. Unfortunately, some system leaders—echoing recommendations made by the surveyed employers—have proposed surface solutions, such as expanding career counseling and internship opportunities. The UNC system should not put much faith in band-aid approaches that hide the serious problems underneath its surface. Better to keep focus on the system’s real shortcomings—general education programs—even if feathers get ruffled.
There is a powerful lesson in the emergence of companies like Uber for those who wish to reform higher education. All the focus tends to be on political and policy debates, but meanwhile innovators are busy working around the status quo without waiting for permission or consensus.
Higher education is often an ignored issue in presidential campaigns. The 2016 campaign, however, may be different. The focus on higher education looks to be unusually strong, with issues such as student debt affecting many millions of potential voters and receiving multiple mentions in campaign speeches and interviews on both sides of the aisle.
