The University of Idaho’s Focus for the Future program prioritization proposal was approved with a unanimous vote by the Idaho State Board of Education last week — but not without scrutiny. Members of the SBOE expressed concern over UI’s proposal, as it appeared the university had evaluated only a fraction of the programs that Idaho’s other higher education institutions had evaluated.
UI President Chuck Staben said UI’s understanding of the mandated program prioritization process was that the resulting proposal would be brief. Subsequently, the UI proposal was six pages long, which contrasts drastically with Boise State University’s 200-page document.
However, Interim Provost Katherine Aiken said she doesn’t believe the brevity of UI’s proposal is indicative of a lack of rigor or thoroughness in the process.
“We’re feeling pretty positive about the usefulness of this process in terms of being financially more efficient,” Aiken said after the board expressed concerns at the meeting. “In terms of the number of programs, we understood the definition of programs to be collections of activities — it was just a definitional difference. We didn’t actually evaluate fewer programs.”
For example, Aiken explained to the SBOE that although UI has over 70 extension programs, extension was treated as one program throughout the process.
“I do not think the number is a reflection that we actually evaluated fewer activities, rather a difference in how we chose to define what a program was,” she said.
Aiken said UI has already saved $260,000 by closing the campus pharmacy and $480,000 by closing the Office of Community Partnership.
Idaho State University, Boise State University and Lewis-Clark State University also had their program prioritization proposals approved last Wednesday.
The SBOE mandated all Idaho four-year higher education institutions to reexamine the efficiency of academic and non-academic programs in May 2013. Now that the SBOE has given the institutions the green light on their proposals, each institution will begin to implement their action plans for the upcoming academic year as early as this month.
Hannah Shirley
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