[Big] Universities Turn to [Big] Consultants to Trim Budgets

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The New York Times' Tamar Lewin examines how some large institutions are spending big bucks for analyses, by large consulting firms of, campus administrative processes and organization structures.

Why should universities hire a consultant and not just start streamlining procurement and information technology?

“Folks who look at the reports will know that procurement is a major area, I.T. is a major area, and reducing the number of organizational layers is a major area, but just because you know procurement’s a problem doesn’t give you the expertise of having handled 930 procurement problems in the last decade,” Mr. Mankins said. “Most doctors don’t do self-diagnosis, and the same reasoning applies in higher education.”