UNC Chapel Hill plans to pay a private consulting firm to help it figure out ways to save money.
Public universities are under great pressure right now to make spending cuts of up to seven percent from current operating budgets, and at the UNC system level, officials have been talking up the value of introspection and finding ways to cut down on unnecessary duplication of programs.
In corporate jargon, it's all about "efficiencies."
In an e-mail to students, faculty and staff this week, UNC-CH Chancellor Holden Thorp announced the Bain & Company, a private global business consulting firm, has been enlisted to "help us identify innovative ways to streamline operations, become more effective, and perhaps achieve additional cost savings."
In the next paragraph, Thorp emphasizes that the consulting firm will be paid for with private funds through the UNC-Chapel Hill Foundation, money provided by a private gift from a university alumnus. Thorp did not say how much will be spent.
A UNC spokesman declined Friday afternoon to say how much the university is paying for the consultant study, adding that the donor providing the money for it wished to remain anonymous.
For months now, UNC system officials have used words like "crisis" and "pain" to describe the current recession and its affect on higher education funding.
But Hannah Gage, who chairs the UNC system's Board of Governors, has also said it provides a good opportunity for campuses to streamline their operations and, when necessary, ditch programs that are no longer needed or relevant. Essentially, she wants campus leaders to think about the bigger picture.
"If our first instinct is to protect, we'll fail," she said in remarks to her board colleagues Friday. "We're not just making cuts. We're redefining the university system for the future. And that is a big task."
Comments
UNC Chapel Hill hires consultant to find savings
Fri, 02/13/2009 - 23:39 — igliigliWhy not make it a project for the MBA students?
Also, the UNC Athletic Department loses millions
every year.
Downsize the coaches for a massive savings.
Staff can't work
Fri, 02/13/2009 - 19:33 — FlowerpowerLike any big, bloated company, UNC has a great many staff who are unable to do any work; they are tired, stagnant, dull and dysfunctional. Many are brought in on the "cronyism" principle, not because they are qualified, but because they "know" somebody. They spew the "party line." Failure to function is not age-based; rather, it is stagnation-based--folks who have just been piddling at the same old thing for ten years need to move along. It might be time to trim a little deadwood out of the UNC tree.
Use Existing Assets to Save
Fri, 02/13/2009 - 17:27 — omegamanUNC touts itself to be among the leaders in education and R&D. Instead of spending money for consultants in a time of financial straits, why don't they use the folks they already have on board. Their accounting department cannot only be used for credits and debit but also for recommendations on how to cut spending. Or, use one of those fabulous grants for something other than studies like "which way the wind blows". They can start by cutting out any cars provided to faculty/employees and tution to out of state athletes at in state prices.
But the bottom line is that UNC will only receive recommendations. It will be up to UNC to implement the recommendations.
And, it would be nice if UNC would be honest with the public (that means us the taxpayer) and publish the entire findings so we, the taxpayer, can judge if there are other areas that could be addressed.