UNC Board of Governors will field report on unnecessary duplication

Although a timeline has been established for a review of the UNC system’s academic programs, system chancellors and provosts say they’re still unsure about how degree programs will be impacted on individual campuses.

Led by Jim Woodward, former chancellor of UNC-Charlotte and N.C. State University, the review of academic programs began in March in order to develop strategies for eliminating “unnecessary duplication” among the system’s 2,000 degree programs.

The system has been examining measures to streamline its academic operations after receiving a cut in state funding of 15.6 percent or $414 million in the state budget passed this summer.

Woodward said his report will be presented to the UNC-system Board of Governors at its November meeting with recommendations for degree consolidation across the system. The report will also include practices adopted by other public university systems experiencing fiscal constraints.

“The topic of program review and adding as well as terminating programs is a topic that has continued to be dealt with at the University of North Carolina,” he said. “I don’t consider unnecessary duplication to be a crisis.”

The implementation of state funding cuts could also accelerate the internal process of degree consolidation at universities. Programs that are failing to attract and graduate their students will likely be eliminated as schools cope with less resources, he said.

But chancellors and provosts have expressed skepticism about what programs would qualify as unnecessary. Randy Woodson, chancellor of N.C. State, said some degree duplication is inevitable for universities with comprehensive course offerings.

Woodson said the report could suggest new opportunities for campuses to work together during a tough budgetary climate.

“We’ve already been as a system very sensitive to the unique mission of each campus,” he said. “But there are some things that could come out of it where we could share resources.”

While sharing resources and combining programs would improve the efficiency of universities’ academic operations, the communities served by campuses could begin to feel the cumulative effects of degree consolidation.

Jon Young, provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs at Fayetteville State University, said students at smaller campuses throughout the system would be harmed the most by measures to combat degree duplication.

Young said 44 percent of Fayetteville State’s student body is older than 25, making it difficult for students to relocate if their major was eliminated.

“We’re going to certainly fight for those programs we believe are really essential for us to provide to this region,” he said.

The report’s stance on regional need won’t be clear until it nears completion in the fall, he said.

“Until we kind of know what constitutes unnecessary duplication, it’s kind of hard to respond,” he said.

Woodson said several factors would be considered before a degree program is eliminated, including the operating cost, regional benefit and alternatives for consolidation.

“I do not think, and I don’t think anybody in the system thinks, that unnecessary duplication is a major problem for North Carolina,” he said. “But we don’t want it to become a major problem.”

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