In an effort to curb the effects of statewide budget cuts, UNC-system administrators are pushing for the expansion of online education — an initiative that will replace a failed seven-month project originally expected to cut costs.
The UNC-system Board of Governors is still searching for ways to absorb a 15.6 percent state budget cut enacted this summer, and members of the board hope online education might be the answer.
In January, system President Thomas Ross announced a review of the system’s 2,000 degree programs to identify duplicate programs that universities could eliminate. Ross and board members hoped the review — termed “unnecessary duplication” — would provide long-term savings.
But at the board’s November meeting, Jim Woodward, who led the study, announced that he had found no duplication within the system.
Woodward, former chancellor of N.C. State University and UNC-Charlotte, said individual universities’ existing review processes have sufficed to cull unnecessary programs, and the board should expect campuses to continue proposing new programs to meet students’ needs.
“I think it is totally inappropriate for you to say, ‘OK, we’re not going to approve any programs in the next five years,’” he said at the meeting.
Every two years, the board asks each university to conduct program evaluations based on the system’s productivity standards.
In February, as a result of the 2010 reviews, the board voted to eliminate or consolidate 60 programs systemwide, including 36 baccalaureate programs.
Instead of recommending additional degree programs to consolidate, Woodward suggested administrators turn to online education for long-term savings.
