The Strategic Plan of the University of Southern California, Study notes of Financial Management

Download The Strategic Plan of the University of Southern California and more Study notes Financial Management in PDF only on Docsity! THE STRATEGIC PLAN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Adopted by the USC Board of Trustees, June 8, 1994 The strategic plan for USC is guided by the Role and Mission Statement of the University of Southern California (see Appendix 1). It seeks to identify initiatives, responsive to changing conditions, that will enable USC to move over the next decade to a position of academic leadership among America’s foremost private research universities. The leadership role we seek can only be earned through creation of a unique academic profile for USC. This profile must be based on the significant strengths that we currently possess and must be built using our competi- tive advantages to the fullest. We must focus our efforts, recognizing that excellence in everything is not possible. A situation audit (see Appendix II) shows that USC’s plan needs to respond to several significant external trends: Threats The environment in which higher education must function has been greatly changed by the termination of the Cold War, the rise of major economic competitors abroad and a long-lasting recession. This has led to much greater demands on universities for accountability in their use of societal resources, a shift of middle-class college attendance from private to public universities, and a changing emphasis in research funding from the basic toward research applied to societal problems. Los Angeles is viewed very negatively by the public, leading to difficulties in attracting students and faculty. Opportunities The Southern California economy is one of the largest in the world, and such areas as commu- nication, health care, biotechnology, and trans- portation will be major growth industries in the near future. Internationalization is of growing importance, and Southern California is the major economic center of the U.S. for interac- tions with Mexico and the countries of the Pacific and Latin America. The entire Southern California area serves as a prototype for the urban center of the 21st century, thus providing a unique laboratory for USC faculty to do research on urban issues and their resolution. Because of its traditionally strong professional schools with their emphasis on problems relat- ing to society and its strengths in the social sciences, USC stands to benefit from the changing emphasis of research funding. We also found that USC’s ability to meet these challenges and opportunities is defined by: USC Strengths USC is one of the major research universities in the country, as reflected in its AAU mem- bership and its success in attracting competi- tive research funding. It has historically had strong professional programs, now enriched by visible, high-quality programs in the liberal arts. USC is already very international, having the largest number of foreign graduates of any U.S. university and a very large number of faculty with foreign connections. Taken together, our arts, management and communi- cations strengths are among the best in the world. USC is extraordinarily well managed financially, and our endowment has grown more rapidly over the past 35 years than that of any other university in the country. USC Weaknesses The image of USC is diffuse and does not well reflect the present overall high academic quali- ty of the institution. Quality is not uniform, however, and there are some lower-quality graduate and professional programs. Our pool 1 THE STRATEGIC PLAN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA EXECUTIVE SUMMARY of undergraduates is too small, which drives up student support costs and constrains our ability to attract a greater fraction of the best students. Our endowment per student is very low, mak- ing us highly tuition dependent. Our academic organization with 21 schools contributes to the lack of clear image, and makes effective man- agement particularly difficult. Four strategic initiatives have been devised to exploit these external trends while build- ing on the present strengths of USC: Initiative 1: Undergraduate education Provide a distinctive undergraduate experi- ence built on excellent liberal arts (the term includes the humanities, the natural sciences and the social sciences) and professional pro- grams, incorporating a characteristic “USC core” liberal education and providing unique opportunities for career preparation through innovative collaborations between the liberal arts and our diverse array of professional schools. Initiative 2: Interdisciplinary research and education Create the organizational flexibility, and capacity for teamwork, to become a world center for innovative interdisciplinary research and education in selected areas. Emphasize pro- grams that span the spectrum from basic to applied research and programs with a high degree of societal relevance. Initiative 3: Programs building on the resources of Southern California and Los Angeles Create programs of research and education that utilize and contribute to the special charac- teristics of Southern California and Los Angeles as a center of urban issues, multi- culturalism, arts, entertainment, communica- tions, and business. Initiative 4: Internationalization Build upon USC’s strong international base of alumni, students, and established rela- tionships and Southern California’s position as an international center to enhance future global opportunities for education, research, and career development. Because of the char- acteristics of Southern California and of our students and alumni, focus efforts on the countries of the Pacific Rim and of Central and South America. The success of these strategic initiatives will depend on our maintaining and improving strong programs of research and graduate education in key departments of the college and the professional schools. It will also require us to enhance our activities in four areas: 1. Alumni: Enhance continuing alumni involvement and participation at all levels of university activities. Our alumni are a tremen- dous resource that the university has not tapped as well as it should. 2. Faculty: Nurture and recruit outstanding faculty who will win the university recognition through their research, scholarship and creative work, and who will enthusiastically teach undergraduates as well as graduate students. Focus on key areas relevant to the four initia- tives. 3. Information resources and technolo- gies: Invest aggressively in emerging tech- nologies relating to libraries, classrooms, and student residences as needed to achieve the strategic initiatives. 4. Image: Provide a clear and realistic image of USC’s unique strengths as a university at the cutting edge. Our image for quality seriously lags reality; the former must be brought into line with the latter. The strategic initiatives are discussed in Section III, and their implications for resource allocation and utilization are dis- cussed in Section IV. Actions required to implement the Strategic Initiatives and support our other primary commitments are discussed in Section V. 2 I. CIRCUMSTANCES The plan is guided by the Role and Mission Statement of the university, which accompanies this document (see Appendix I). Unlike the Role and Mission Statement, however, which bal- ances the university’s full range of activities and aspirations, this document focuses almost exclu- sively on specific strategic initiatives. In the interest of a relatively brief document, we have foregone a review of all that is excellent or basic – or both – to this university. Readers of this plan should understand that those bases are assumed; that is, for dozens of programs and activities, omission is not significant, but merely practical. The University of Southern California has improved dramatically over the past three decades. However, the environment for higher education in the decades to come will be great- ly different from what has existed since the end of World War II. The end of the Cold War, intense foreign economic competition, rapidly rising health care costs, seemingly intractable urban problems and a massive restructuring of the American economy have been precipitating factors for fundamental changes in society’s expectations for all our institutions – including our universities. As a consequence USC’s ability to fulfill its mission is being affected by several significant trends: Affordability, accountability, and the pressure for relevance: The increasing cost of attending universities is leading to pressures for stricter accountability of the benefits and costs of higher education. Declining support from federal and other sources of external funds for basic research is leading to a shift of emphasis toward more immediate problems and away from funda- mental research. With the increased emphasis on relevance has emerged a greater recognition of the need for interdisciplinary research and teaching, which may be in tension with traditional acad- emic structures and disciplines. Competition for students, resources, and visibility: Excess capacity in private higher education is leading to greater competition for students and resources. As a result, university reputation and image have become more important than ever before. In an era of intense competition and scarce resources, it will be difficult for the second- and third-tier institutions to survive. Technology and information as agents of change: Growing recognition of information as a commodity and the steadily growing role of technology are fundamentally transforming processes for generating, storing, and transmit- ting knowledge. Concepts of libraries and classrooms are changing rapidly. While it is essential for an institution of higher learning to build a modern infrastructure of information and communications technologies, the invest- ment required to do so is formidable. Globalization of knowledge, careers, students, and alumni: Globalization is affecting every facet of uni- versity education and research. Information is being shared across borders, international research collaborations are common, and students frequently come from overseas or work overseas. These changes place new demands on the content and process of education, on the relevant agendas for research, on the training and support for fac- ulty, and on the links between the university and diverse communities in the U.S. and overseas. The Southern California region: Though this region remains unique as an urban center of diversity and as a major economic center, it is going through a period of economic hardship and social instability which has 3 THE STRATEGIC PLAN OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA benefit from the innovative offerings of the uni- versity, that supports them in continuing at the university through graduation, and that enables them to graduate in a timely manner. 9. Take the lead in working with the city and the community to dramatically improve the neighborhoods surrounding the two cam- puses of USC, thereby making the university more attractive and receptive to students from around the country and the world. 2. Strategic initiative in interdisciplinary research and education The most interesting and important prob- lems facing society today tend to be highly interdisciplinary. With our complementary research strengths, we have the potential to be a leader in addressing selected interdisciplinary problems of importance to society – if we can overcome disciplinary barriers and create gen- uine teams in research, graduate and postdoc- toral programs. We already have several inter- disciplinary programs, such as gerontology, the study of women and men in society, and neuro- sciences, and are starting a major new one in communications. By including the range from the most basic to the most applied, we will underline the critical role of basic research in addressing important societal problems. Strategies: 1. Support excellent individual research in critical areas. Excellence in research is to be seen as including the training of graduate stu- dents and postdoctoral fellows. 2. Encourage research that is creative, inter- disciplinary, and has high societal relevance; develop programs to stimulate faculty interest in selected broad interdisciplinary problems; elimi- nate existing disincentives and provide positive incentives for excellent interdisciplinary research, with emphasis on areas that are truly innovative. 3. Develop a management structure that helps identify and develop promising interdisciplinary and interdivisional programs with a rapid response time, contains elements of program review, and provides for program discontinuation. 4. Emphasize in programs, where possible, the full range of research from the basic to the applied, including the dissemination of research knowledge in the community. 5. Recruit faculty and graduate students who are engaged in interdisciplinary research of distinction. 3. Strategic initiative to build on the resources of Southern California and Los Angeles Southern California and its major city, Los Angeles, are in many ways the paradigm for the 21st-century urban region. Viewed in that light, our region becomes an invaluable resource for teaching and research on a wide range of topics including the urban condition itself, immigra- tion, multiculturalism, health care, post-indus- trial economic conditions, etc. – a resource that gives us the opportunity to set the research agenda for the rest of the world in these areas. Southern California is unusually endowed in the arts, all of which must also exist in and relate to this urban context. This regional strength has contributed to the unusual vitality of our several schools in the arts. In addition, the region is home for some of the most dynam- ic established and emerging industries, such as entertainment, communications, health care and transportation. We must emphasize our pro- grams that utilize this regional resource and cre- ate university partnerships for mutual benefit in teaching, research and community activities at the local and regional levels. This includes uni- versity efforts to enhance professional develop- ment for those who work in these established and emerging industries and the professions. Strategies: 1. Use the Southern California region as an urban laboratory for teaching, research, service and internships. Coordinate activities as appro- priate among the many schools and depart- ments involved in order to provide focus and visibility. Emphasize programs that are defin- ing new approaches and new fields of study. 2. Develop curricula and research related to urban problems of national concern. 3. Coordinate our unusually large number of health-related schools and departments to create new and innovative approaches to health care for a complex urban region. 6 4. Build programs that are closely linked to the established or emerging growth industries of Southern California, such as cinema-televi- sion, communications, biotechnology, health care and transportation. 5. Sustain programs of excellence in the arts that build on and contribute to the cultural resources of Southern California. 6. Pursue mutual goals with the ethnic com- munities of the region. 7. Use the rich ethnic diversity of the region as an advantage in the recruitment of a more ethnically diverse faculty. 8. Take the lead in helping to create, in the neighborhoods immediately surrounding USC’s two campuses, a model of excellence for Los Angeles and other major urban centers. 4. Strategic initiative in internationalization Our students will have to function in a world that is rapidly becoming more international. Their effectiveness will be enhanced by under- standing the languages and cultures of the people with whom they will interact. Research and scholarship know fewer geographic boundaries as communication and transportation improve rapidly. USC has many strengths on which to build in this area, including our uniquely large pool of foreign alumni and students, Southern California’s position as a global center, and our many faculty with international involvements. In large part because of the characteristics of Southern California and of our students and alumni, our ties are much closer to the countries of the Pacific Rim and of Central and South America, and we should focus on those areas. Strategies: 1. Foster international involvement in the Pacific Rim and Latin America through research and teaching. 2. Build connections with universities, communities, alumni and corporations abroad to increase research collaborations; attract stu- dents, postdoctoral fellows, and visiting faculty of high quality; and develop opportunities in other countries for USC faculty and students. 3. Create internal structures and policies that support educational and research linkages abroad and that coordinate major international activities across schools. 4. Create closer relationships with commu- nities in Southern California that have strong ties to the countries of the Pacific Rim and Latin America. 5. Utilize the emerging global communica- tions infrastructure to create new types of linkages with foreign universities and researchers, and to investigate the possibilities of global teaching. 6. Foster programs on campus that bring inter- national and domestic students into closer contact, and that create an environment which is especially attractive to the very best international students. IV. IMPLICATIONS OF THE STRATEGIC INITIATIVES FOR RESOURCE ALLO- CATION AND UTILIZATION Our strategic initiatives do not focus on a single school or department, but rather on programs that generally involve multiple schools and depart- ments. Thus, our vision of the future incorporates the concept that academic leadership and excel- lence will be defined more by focused interdisci- plinary programs (or perhaps interdisciplinary programs that evolve into a new discipline) than by the more narrowly defined disciplinary depart- ments or schools of today. However, it is not like- ly that the key disciplines that undergird much of this interdisciplinary work will disappear or lose their own viability in the near future. Thus, our allocation of resources and the organizational structure we choose must reflect a dual focus. 1. Resource allocation Focus resources on programs in teaching, research, scholarship, and creative activities that will most contribute to our attaining the desired levels of leadership and excellence: 1.1 Utilize objective data and national sur- veys, along with other factors, to determine the relative strength of programs at USC vis a vis their national competitors. 1.2 Sustain areas of present demonstrable excellence and visibility throughout the univer- sity. Focus doctoral programs more sharply, so that USC develops great strength in fewer fields at the doctoral level while still offering a 7 full range of undergraduate courses. 1.3 Sustain areas of teaching and research most important to the perception of a leading research university: key liberal arts programs in the college and elsewhere that are the most critical to our stature as a center of liberal learning; and key programs in those profes- sional schools commonly acknowledged as being most important to the external perception of universities, that is, business, engineering, law, and medicine. Key programs will be defined by the individual schools based on their knowledge of the disciplines. 1.4 In building to new levels of excellence, focus first on areas of current excellence and visibility where the strategic initiatives identify sustainable competitive advantages. 1.5 As resources become available, build up other areas where the strategic initiatives iden- tify sustainable competitive advantages. 2. Resource utilization Utilize resources as efficiently as possible in order to maximize resources available to improve academic programs: 2.1 Reorganize administrative and support activities as necessary to minimize redundancy and maximize effectiveness. 2.2 Improve utilization of physical plant, and most especially of classrooms and teaching laboratories. 2.3 Combine or link, where necessary and appropriate, smaller, quality programs in order to create larger programs that achieve demonstrable excellence and visibility (cf. IV 1.1 above). V. PLANS FOR ACTION Details for follow-up action in each strategic ini- tiative are presented in this section. Tag-words in brackets (Undergraduate, Interdisciplinary, Southern California, and International) refer to specific strategies as discussed in III or (Resource Allocation, Resource Utilization) to the resource implications as discussed in IV. IV. 1 Actions already begun 1. A committee jointly sponsored by the Academic Senate and the college has begun studying the General Education requirement in the core liberal education of USC. The report of this committee will be used to inform the discussions of a new committee sponsored by the provost that will be charged to produce the core curriculum envisioned in the strategic initiative in time for implementation in Fall, 1996. [Undergraduate, International, Resource Utilization] 2. A special commission chaired by the vice provost for undergraduate studies is working on innovative combinations of USC’s liberal arts and professional strengths, such as profes- sional minors and early admission to profes- sional graduate programs. Its first recommen- dations should be implemented during the coming academic year. [Undergraduate] 3. The current task force on Revenue Center Management will recommend ways to facilitate collaboration among academic units in both teaching and interdisciplinary research, in order to minimize competition, eliminate duplication, and provide positive incentives. In the arena of research, these recommendations will incorporate suggestions made by the University Research Committee in its 1991 report. The vice provost for research will take leadership in fostering cross-disciplinary study groups and collaborations, leading faculty to new research opportunities. [Undergraduate, Interdisciplinary, Resource Utilization] 4. A prototype study of Admissions and Financial Aid will determine if improved ser- vice and increased efficiency in central admin- istration activities can be obtained through reorganization. It will be integrated with a par- allel study of student services costs in academ- ic units for which data have just been gathered. Similar studies of academic units will follow. [Undergraduate, Resource Utilization] 5. An initiative on undergraduate advising was implemented last year, based in part on improved information systems developed by the Office of the Registrar. Under the direction of the vice provost for undergraduate studies, we will continue to emphasize and refine this process. [Undergraduate] 6. A committee composed of the vice presi- dent for health affairs, the deans of pharmacy, gerontology, dentistry, and social work, the asso- 8 T he central mission of the University of Southern California is the development of human beings and society as a whole through the cultivation and enrichment of the human mind and spirit. The principal means by which our mission is accomplished are teach- ing, research, artistic creation, professional practice and selected forms of public service. Our first priority as faculty and staff is the educa- tion of our students, from freshmen to postdoc- torals, through a broad array of academic, pro- fessional, extracurricular and athletic programs of the first rank. The integration of liberal and professional learning is one of USC’s special strengths. We strive constantly for excellence in teaching knowledge and skills to our students, while at the same time helping them to acquire wisdom and insight, love of truth and beauty, moral discernment, understanding of self, and respect and appreciation for others. Research of the highest quality by our faculty and students is fundamental to our mission. USC is one of a very small number of premier academic institutions in which research and teaching are inextricably intertwined, and on which the nation depends for a steady stream of new knowledge, art, and technology. Our faculty are not simply teachers of the works of others, but active contributors to what is taught, thought and practiced throughout the world. USC is pluralistic, welcoming outstanding men and women of every race, creed and back- ground. We are a global institution in a global center, attracting more international students over the years than any other American univer- sity. And we are private, unfettered by politi- cal control, strongly committed to academic freedom, and proud of our entrepreneurial her- itage. An extraordinary closeness and willingness to help one another are evident among USC stu- dents, alumni, faculty, and staff; indeed, for those within its compass the Trojan Family is a genuinely supportive community. Alumni, trustees, volunteers and friends of USC are essential to this family tradition, providing generous financial support, participating in university governance, and assisting students at every turn. In our surrounding neighborhoods and around the globe, USC provides public leadership and public service in such diverse fields as health care, economic development, social welfare, scientific research, public policy and the arts. We also serve the public interest by being the largest private employer in the city of Los Angeles, as well as the city’s largest export industry in the private sector. USC has played a major role in the develop- ment of Southern California for more than a century, and plays an increasingly important role in the development of the nation and the world. We expect to continue to play these roles for many centuries to come. Thus our planning, commitments and fiscal policies are directed toward building quality and excel- lence in the long term. 11 APPENDIX I THE ROLE AND MISSION OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA Adopted by the USC Board of Trustees, February 3, 1993 The situation audit is composed of three sec- tions: Section I. Expectations of outside constituen- cies Section II. Evaluation of the environment A. Environmental threats B. Environmental opportunities Section III. Evaluation of USC A. Strengths B. Weaknesses I. EXPECTATIONS OF OUTSIDE CONSTITUENCIES 1. Students and families: Prospective stu- dents and their families are increasingly curi- ous and informed about the benefits and costs of higher education and expect greater atten- tion to undergraduate education, especially at research universities; price-worthiness may challenge prestige as a measure of academic attractiveness. 2. Career preparation: There will be more pressure for relevance to career preparation in the curriculum, but also more nontraditional providers of higher education to sharpen that pressure and force greater differentiation. 3. Research: The belief that basic research in universities contributes directly to economic might has eroded. Along with possible decreased federal support for research will come pressure from federal agencies and oth- ers for redirecting research to immediate prob- lems and for greater effectiveness in the trans- fer of research solutions to applications. 4. Diversity: The university will be expect- ed to respond to the increasing diversity of our society and to the emergence of women and members of minority groups in leadership positions. The response will be expected in the composition of its students, staff, and faculty, and in its programs of teaching and research. 5. Technology and information: The grow- ing recognition of information as a commodity and the growing role of information technolo- gy create constant pressure on the university to remain at the forefront of developments in instrumentation, computing, robotics, and the transmission of information. 6. Neighborhood: Neighbors, local and state officials and the public at large expect USC to contribute materially to the advancement of its neighborhood, from K-12 education to hous- ing, to employment opportunities, to research that addresses local and regional problems. 7. Internationalism: The university will be expected to keep pace with increasing interna- tionalization of business, industry, communica- tions and research. 8. Athletics: Alumni will continue to expect USC to be a major athletic campus and the public at large will expect us to maintain an athletic program which is absolutely clean and absolutely in compliance with NCAA regula- tions. 9. Cost control: Economic forces are requir- ing greatly increased attention by all compo- nents of our society to controlling costs. Universities are increasingly expected to cor- rect inefficiencies, improve performance, and lower costs. II. EVALUATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT A. Environmental Threats 1. Politics: The sheltered political and regu- latory environment once enjoyed by universi- ties is being replaced by expectations of stricter accountability to higher education’s numerous clients. The negative perception of universities of recent years may continue, lead- ing to greatly increased oversight on such issues as conflict of interest and the relative commitments of a university to research, APPENDIX II SITUATION AUDIT 12 scholarship, and teaching. 2. Economy: The California economy may continue to lag the nation, in contrast to its leadership in the ’80s. There will be stiffer competition for scarce resources. The propor- tion of students requiring financial aid may not decline and may increase; the proportion will- ing to pay high tuition costs may continue to decline; governmental support for students with need may fail to improve or decline. 3. Competition: Universities are likely to compete more intensely with each other, as well as with nontraditional providers of educa- tion such as corporations. Private higher edu- cation has an over-capacity relative to the num- ber of students in the pipeline who are able to pay private university tuition rates. Public uni- versities will continue their forays into private fund raising. 4. Research support: Federal funding of research support has waned with the end of the Cold War and may continue to decline as a per- centage of the overall federal budget. We are likely to see a shift toward research which is applicable to business and industry. 5. Los Angeles: The dangers of continuing instability in USC’s immediate neighborhoods, along with Los Angeles’ other problems, are detrimental to the continuing success of the university. Issues include crime, poor primary and secondary education, unemployment, urban blight, weakened families, and natural disasters. 6. Health care: Major restructuring in the nation’s health care systems may destabilize health care education and research at academic health centers throughout the country. 7. Universities abroad: New universities in Asia, the Middle East and Europe that operate on the American model may make it much more difficult to recruit good students from abroad. Political, ideological and economic changes in other countries may limit the ability of foreign nationals from those countries to study in the United States. B. Environmental Opportunities 1. Southern California and Los Angeles: Southern California remains unique as an urban center of great human diversity and tal- ent. The energy and variety of its population encourage USC to continue to develop a model relationship with its neighborhoods, with the city, and with the surrounding region. USC can move with Southern California to the vanguard in addressing the challenges to major urban centers, and in understanding the complex his- torical and sociological relationships that define the city and the region. 2. International: Southern California is the major economic center of the western United States, closely tied to Latin America to the south and to the countries of the Pacific to the west. If these regions play their anticipated roles in the economic and political develop- ment of the world in the next decade, Southern California will be the favored region in the United States to participate in that develop- ment. USC is further positioned to play a role in the international arena because we have per- haps the largest number of foreign graduates of any university in the United States. 3. California industries: California is unique in its combination of institutions that produce knowledge and industries that utilize that knowledge (electronics, communications, cine- ma, biotechnology, computing, etc.). The region retains the potential to grow in global economic and cultural importance. 4. California population: A growing demand from immigrant populations in Southern California for higher education may run counter to the national demographic trend, and in the process create enrollment opportuni- ties for private colleges and universities. 5. California public higher education: Increased tuition costs at public universities in California may narrow the tuition gap some- what. The high cost of building new public universities may lead to greater state support for students attending private institutions. 6. Health care: Changes in health care delivery offer opportunities to USC with its broad spectrum of health-related programs. We have an opportunity to build a new model of excellence in broadly based, integrated clinical care and clinical research in this changing environment. 13