RALF Dahrendorf fittingly remarked that “Stagnant universities are expensive and ineffectual monuments to status quo which is more likely to be a status quo ante, yesterday’s world preserved in aspic.”

Dahrendorf, former Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) and a distinguished Sociologist held the idea that the realities of some universities fail to match the more ardent detonation of their role in the modern age.

And some time ago I wrote that “All is not well at the University of Guyana (UG). The Government of Guyana heavily funds the UG. Governments in many countries have initiated dramatic cutbacks in higher education budgets. Budget cuts now are becoming the norm in higher education in most developing countries. Today, the public in many countries demand increasing efficiencies, greater accountability measures, and added sensitivity to stakeholder demands. In simple language, what has happened is that higher education has become vulnerable to the market dynamics of a consumer-driven economy.”

The new dynamics in higher education, government cutbacks, and the need for universities to function within the national interest, strongly correlate with reorganization. And in Guyana, reorganization in higher education is a necessity.

Today, given some limited competition for students vis-à-vis offshore institutions, and growing opportunities from overseas online distance institutions, clearly, UG no longer commands a monopoly over where students enroll and what courses are offered. Under these conditions, any university must set in motion changes to reach greater efficiencies in management, ensuring that strategy and structure are congruent with the national interest.

The World Bank Report 1995 ‘Higher Education: the Lessons of Experience’ pointed to a global crisis in higher education; and the challenge is how to reorganize higher education with a reduced budget.

As I am writing this piece I observed in a recent issue of the ‘UK Guardian’ some discussions on changes in higher education, specifically pertaining to curricular overhaul at London Metropolitan University in England.

Jessica Shepherd, writing for the Guardian, alluded to the University’s Report of the Review of Undergraduate Education; this report outlined ideas for curricular reform.

Reeling from the throes of poor financial management, the London Metropolitan University expects to reduce its courses from 557 to 160 by the start of the new academic year 2012-13. The Academic Board agreed to do away with history, philosophy, Caribbean studies, theatre studies, trade union studies, dance, parts of multimedia, performing arts, and modern languages.

The Board of Governors will discuss this proposal for closure of these courses in June 2011, and at that time, expects to make a final decision on the matter. We have to see these reforms within the context of £940 million (12.6%) government’s cutback for British Universities in teaching, research, and site renovation over the next academic year.

Today, given some limited competition for students vis-à-vis offshore institutions, and growing opportunities from overseas online distance institutions, clearly, UG no longer commands a monopoly over where students enroll and what courses are offered. Under these conditions, any university must set in motion changes to reach greater efficiencies in management, ensuring that strategy and structure are congruent with the national interest.

John Gill, in the Times Higher Education, indicated that the London Metropolitan University’s proposal requires a change in undergraduate education from 2012-13, where there would be year-long modules comprising 30 weeks of teaching; in each academic year, the student will pursue four modules at 30 credits each, with a minimum of 60 teaching hours for each module. Undergraduates in their first year will experience a more rigid teaching structure, where they would have exposure to 12 teaching hours per week.

Apart from its poor financial management, the London Metropolitan University may be responding to its own estimates of current and future demand against the background of the British Government budget cuts to universities by 40% for the next four years from £7.1 billion to £4.2 billion. Mathematics, engineering, science, and technology, considered as prioritized courses, will go on obtaining teaching funds; nonetheless, funds may not be available for humanities and social sciences.

On the question of reorganization in the U.S., Provost and Vice President Gary Olson of Idaho State University presented his work on reorganization in the Chronicle of Higher Education.
At Idaho State University, he worked toward attaining efficiency and to come out from the fiscal challenge academically more robust. He merged the College of Pharmacy and the College of Health Professions to create the Division of Health Sciences, and also merged science departments within the College of Arts and Sciences and the College of Engineering to establish a College of Science and Engineering. The additional departments in the College of Arts and Sciences together formed the College of Arts and Letters. Provost Olson noted that there were considerable savings from the reorganization.

He provided these examples of reorganization in other U.S. institutions: in 2009, there was the Northeastern University’s division of the college system into smaller colleges; faced with a $17 million reduced State funding in 2009, Florida Atlantic University did away with 170 faculty and staff positions; in 2010, there were the University of Northern Iowa’s reduction of its administrative divisions from four to three,  the elimination of a senior position, and the trimming down of colleges through combining the College of Natural Sciences with the College of Humanities and Fine Arts. Eastern Washington University recently decreased its colleges from six to four, and reconfigured some academic departments.

The new dynamics in higher education, government cutbacks, and the need for universities to function within the national interest, strongly correlate with reorganization. And in Guyana, reorganization in higher education is a necessity.