IUPUI can continue to accomplish its purposes and strengthen its educational effectiveness.
Resource Base
IUPUI is on sound financial footing (see the audited Indiana University Financial Report for 2000-01). In addition, IUPUI"s first campus-wide fund-raising campaign already has brought in more than three times the very early target of $200 million. Over the course of the campaign, the fundraising goal has been raised twice and we exceeded our goal of $700 million 21 months before the campaign is scheduled to end in 2004. Nevertheless, tax restructuring, currently under consideration by the Indiana legislature, will be essential if resources from the state are to continue at current levels. As a result of the uncertainties in the Indiana economy, the university has outlined a plan to deal with potential reductions/delays in state funding. A contingency fund has been established to help offset anticipated reductions in legislative appropriations for the next fiscal year.
With a few notable exceptions like the Mary Cable classroom building and Ball Residence Hall, most physical facilities are adequate to outstanding, having been constructed in the 1970s or more recently. Nevertheless, deferred maintenance is a continuing concern, as it is on most U.S. campuses. Facilities constructed since the last NCA review in 1992 include the University Library, the law school, the Herron ceramics facility, the cancer institute, and two science/engineering buildings. Significant renovations have included the Van Nuys Medical Sciences Building and University College (formerly the University Library). Campus housing, a campus center, a communications/technology complex, and the renovation of the former law school to accommodate the Herron School of Art are planned for the next decade. The movement of Herron from a site some 15 blocks north will mark the final step in a movement that began in 1969 to consolidate the Indiana and Purdue programs on a single site.
Responsibility center management (RCM) was implemented at IUPUI in 1989. RCM has been the subject of reviews by chancellor-appointed committees of faculty and administrators in 1994 and 1999.
The principal findings of the review committee"s report ( dated 2000)(PDF) included the following: "It is the unanimous consensus of the committee that RCM should be continued. The committee strongly reaffirms the benefits of decentralized financial management found in an RCM environment." Advantages identified in the report include:
- the system provides strong incentives to generate revenues and control costs.
- RCM leads to a more entrepreneurial environment and greater accountability.
- the full attribution of income and local control of resource allocations encourages better planning and prioritization by RC leaders.
- The ability to carry forward surpluses from year to year permits multi-period planning and linking of unit plans with resources in ways that are not feasible in a single-period budgeting environment.
- RCM has not stopped at the campus level; several of the academic RCs have devolved RCM to the department level to varying degrees.
Recommendations from this review, nearly all of which have been implemented, include:
- keep and enhance RCM.
- maintain the principle of carry-forward of surpluses and deficits.
- continue the policy of not permitting deficit spending as the rule.
- move to a flat tax to replace the current RC assessments.
- provide additional information about the sources and uses of funds for the IU administration tax.
- be watchful of efforts to centralize (at the presidential level) control over administrative functions and associated resources.
- create more training and sharing opportunities for new deans, chairs, and vice chancellors.
Decision-Making Processes
IUPUI faculty have developed clear standards for promotion and tenure as well as a number of other essential policies and procedures, including a Plan for Financial Exigency that was utilized in 2001. Implementation of that policy in the case of the School of Allied Health Sciences revealed some areas of the plan that need to be modified, and these modifications are underway. The Academic Policies and Procedures Committee, with representatives from each school and academic support unit, reviews policies and procedures continuously and makes recommendations to the Dean of the Faculties for needed revisions of existing policy and development of new policies.
Planning Processes
IUPUI faculty and administrators have engaged in two multi-year planning processes in the past decade. In the interim, plans existed in draft form and implementation strategies were updated annually to address changing needs and circumstances. The second round of planning was undertaken in 1999 to address potential enrollment issues that might be associated with the creation of the Community College of Indiana .
More recently IUPUI has begun a specific planning process focused on how technology can be employed more effectively to maintain or improve quality while reducing or maintaining costs. IUPUI has made significant investments in technology and is looking for ways to ensure appropriate returns on business functions, administrative processes, and aspects of faculty work. A concept paper has been widely circulated and will serve as the basis for continuing discussion in the 2002-2003 academic year .
Assessment Processes
Assessment is a continuous process that has been underway in academic and administrative units at IUPUI for more than a decade. Annual reports at unit and campus levels record progress toward mission-related goals. Program reviews scheduled at least once each decade ensure that the judgment of peers will be applied in comprehensive assessments of academic and administrative units. These processes are discussed in Criterion Three and in the two special emphasis self-studies.
Linking Planning and Resource Allocation
A continuous planning process is in place at the campus level and resources are available to assist units with their own planning. The Economic Model Office in the division of Planning and Institutional Improvement builds cost models for units and engages faculty and deans in extended discussions of unit income and expenses; this process ultimately informs the unit"s planning processes. Planning and budgeting are linked at every level?department, school, and campus. This linkage is illustrated best in the annual planning/budgeting reports that may be viewed on the Web.
Indiana University-Purdue University Columbus (IUPUC)
IUPUC is relying increasingly on tuition income as a substitute for declining appropriation income. Although on sound financial footing presently, IUPUC needs state support to offer recently approved degree programs.
Planning has been revised and is continually undergoing revision, based on the changing educational landscape resulting from the creation of the Community Education Coalition (CEC) in Columbus, the new educational partnerships produced by the CEC, the looming Community College of Indiana entrance into this region, new distance education providers, and movement into this service area of additional competitive educational institutions. Planning will continue and will focus on positioning IUPUC in the marketplace as the highest quality institution offering the highest quality programs.
Resource management, focused on funding, time, and personnel, continues to be the primary challenge for IUPUC. As planning and resource allocation are linked, the challenge is to create, implement, and administer the academic and support programs for IU and Purdue students that are wanted and needed in the Columbus region.
Strengths and Challenges
Strengths include:
- a stable financial base; Indiana has avoided high peaks and low troughs in its history of funding for higher education.
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- a relatively new physical plant?most buildings date from 1970 or later.
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- appropriate policies in place to enable the institution to respond to the unexpected, and appropriate committees in place to implement these policies.
- advanced use of technology and creation of OnCourse , which have benefited IUPUI students by providing a single educational platform for Web-enhanced learning.
- assessment initiatives supported centrally for more than a dozen years.
- planning processes centrally and in the schools that have improved appreciably in the past decade.
- a central reallocation fund that has enabled IUPUI to support new initiatives designed to meet community needs.
Challenges include:
- fiscal uncertainty due to the sluggish national and state economies.
- a history of modest annual state funding increases for higher education.
- deferred maintenance of physical plant as budget cuts are absorbed disproportionately by administrative units.
- decentralization that hampers communication across units.
- rapid growth in student and faculty numbers, as well as in funded research, that has put a premium on space. Most units, both administrative and academic, are simply out of space.
- though outcomes assessment has received strong support centrally, implementation across units is still uneven.
- some unit plans, although aligned with those of the campus, do not, in fact, serve to guide the unit"s progress; planning and evaluating simply are not processes that naturally guide most human activity?they require a considerable amount of conscious effort.
