Two-thirds of Public Universities Undertaking Strategic Review of Core Activities Following 2009 Budget Cuts, APLU Survey Reveals

The Association of Public and Land-Grant Universities (now known as APLU) has released the results of its survey of member institutions, which are large, public institutions. Its report on the survey is titled Coping Strategics of Public Universities During the Economic Recession of 2009. (Since it officially began in 2007, we think it should be titled The Economic Recession of 2007-2010, but . . . what the heck.) The APLU says:

Strategic reviews of core activities are underway or planned by two-thirds of the nation’s public research universities according to a survey of chief academic officers by the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (A۰P۰L۰U). The survey focused on depth of budget cuts, strategies to close deficits, and impact on institutions and students at the nation’s 188 public research universities.

The full report on the survey is here.

Here's a report in the APLU's online newsletter, Public Voice, here's a direct link to the entire survey. Here's a summary of the survey by The Chronicle of Higher Education's Eric Kelderman and here's a summary by Inside Higher Ed's Jack Stripling. Jack wrote:

While the survey suggests that some hard choices have already been made by public universities, the long-term solutions indicate universities are still more apt to conduct further reviews than announce permanent changes at this point. Indeed, 67 percent of respondents said they plan a strategic review of administrative structures, compared with just 22 percent that said they plan to permanently change staffing levels for tenured and tenure-track faculty.