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Executive Summary. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2-3
Challenges and Opportunities
The Core Themes of a Cal Poly Plan
Structure, Process and Timetable for the Future DevelopmentIntroduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
Challenges and Opportunities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4-8
The Core Themes of a Cal Poly Plan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9-11
Process and Timetable for Future Development
of a Cal Poly Plan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12-13
MESSAGE
from the President
| "Public
concern about educational quality and productivity in the nation's colleges
and universities is growing. "
"As an unprotected budget category, higher education in California is extremely vulnerable ...... |
EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
.
This White Paper proposes creation of an innovative plan for growth and renewal at Cal Poly-the Cal Poly Plan. The plan will permit Cal Poly to restore and enhance program quality, expand student access, and renew funding for the University. The White Paper describes the background for creation of the Cal Poly Plan, the steps taken so far to develop it, and the proposed future steps to be taken. Challenges and Opportunities Several major trends are shaping the environment for higher education in California. They represent both challenges and important opportunities for Cal Poly. (1) Public concern about educational quality and productivity in the nation's colleges and universities is growing. It is fueling movement by accreditation organizations, state agencies and other entities toward more prescriptive assessment and accountability mandates. (2) Over the next decade there will be a very significant increase in both the number and diversity of students seeking a higher education in California, many thousands each year in the CSU alone. (3) The state's appropriations of money for higher education have not kept pace with growth in student demand-and with the need for investment dollars to maintain and enhance educational quality. As an unprotected budget category, higher education in California is extremely vulnerable, as other areas of the state budget which enjoy statutory or constitutional protection are increased. The White Paper argues that Cal Poly is in many respects uniquely positioned to lead the way in responding to these challenges. By virtue of its well established reputation for quality and efficiency Cal Poly has the potential to play an expanded leadership role in the exploration of new approaches to the enhancement of quality, productivity and accountability. Given the already strong and diverse applicant demand for its programs, Cal Poly has the opportunity over the next several years to expand significantly its enrollment of a diverse student body. Finally, we believe there is both a reasoned justification and important opportunity to seek funding for Cal Poly at a differential level more appropriate to its polytechnic mission and educational traditions. The Core Themes of a Cal Poly Plan Last year a series of conversations was initiated-with the Chancellor's Office and with the faculty, staff and students of Cal Poly-to begin to identify the elements of a plan that would permit the University to grow and also to preserve and build upon its reputation for educational quality and leadership. During the summer, understanding was achieved about the core themes of a Cal Poly Plan. 1.
We agreed that Cal Poly will explore strategies for significant enrollment
growth over the next several years - with the goal of reaching the 15,000
AY FTE physical capacity of the campus and also achieving a significant
increase in summer term enrollments.
|
| "How
should Cal Poly grow?"
"How
should weJund enrollment growth and quality enhancement?
"What
initial investments should we make?"
"How
do we begin the process of defining and linking quality, productivity and
accountability?"
"Through this ongoing conversation we will gain the opportunity to choose and build our ownfuture .... . |
Several
other issues will be addressed by the Cal Poly Plan, including recognition
that the important work of the Charter Employee Relations Committee must
continue, recognition of the need for continued efforts to assess and strengthen
institutional processes, and recognition of the need to plan for future
growth beyond the present physical capacity of the campus. Implementation
of the Cal Poly Plan is expected to take three to five years, although
it will take somewhat longer to achieve and document results such as improvements
in retention, time to degree, graduation rates, increased efficiency and
resulting reductions of unit costs.
Structure, Process and Timetable for the Future Development of a Cal Poly Plan Over the summer, we developed organizational structures and processes to guide further development of the Cal Poly Plan: (1) A fourteen-member Steering Committee was established for the Cal Poly Plan. Chaired by President Baker, and including representatives from key constituency groups, it will provide the consultation and communication required to achieve consensus to move forward with the Cal Poly Plan. (2) The deans and the academic administration of the University also met this summer to discuss the Plan and will play a central leadership role in developing a detailed strategic framework for the Plan for consideration of the Steering Committee. (3) Finally, the administration, Academic Senate and Staff Council also developed and began to carry out research strategies to provide the hard data needed to develop a solid plan - including information on faculty, student and staff opinions about the University's top priority needs for the future. The opinions of parents, advisory board members and other University constituents will also be studied. The University administration, the Cal Poly Plan Steering Committee, and the several University constituency groups will work together to address four key questions this fall. Additional questions will require study beyond the fall. This fall we must provide preliminary answers to these major questions: Question
# 1: How should Cal Poly grow?
Achievement of preliminary consensus about each of these four questions will permit us to move forward with implementation of a plan in the fall of 1996. As we look beyond the fall, we recognize that ongoing discussion of these questions will be needed-and especially discussion of the concepts "quality," "productivity" and "accountability." These are complex ideas, involving critical, fundamental questions about our values as an institution. It will take time to arrive at even a preliminary consensus about their meaning. Therefore, while we will initiate discussion about them this fall, we will continue to study and debate these issues throughout the life of the Cal Poly Plan-and beyond. Through this ongoing conversation-and through practical steps to apply and test the insights gleaned from it-we will gain the opportunity to choose and build our own future, a future that preserves and protects the best of what we do while enabling us to explore creative approaches to the challenges of the new century. |
| "The
Cal
Poly Plan will permit Cal Poly to .... restore and enhance program quality,
expand student access and renewfundingfor the University."
...
we now have a real opportunity, with the Cal Poly Plan, to enter
a period of significant institutional growth and development."
"The faculty and staff's hard work and sacrifice to protect Cal Poly and the traditions it stands for means that we can now begin to consider an ambitious planfor institutional renewal." |
INTRODUCTION
As we look toward the next century at Cal Poly, we must be mindful of several major trends shaping the overall environment for higher education in the State of California:
An important starting point for the Cal Poly Plan is the very strong reputation that Cal Poly has already earned for quality and efficiency - a reputation that positions Cal Poly to lead the way within the CSU in exploring new methods to enhance quality, productivity and accountability. While higher education generally has come under critical scrutiny in recent years, Cal Poly's reputation for quality, our reputation for attending to the needs of undergraduate students and our reputation for effective management of resources remain strong. Despite the budget setbacks of recent years, the talent, dedication and hard work of the faculty and staff of Cal Poly, and the continued strong performance of our students, have preserved Cal Poly's position of educational leadership. In various ways --win the rankings of national publications, in demand by employers for our graduates, in the real affection of our students and alumni for the University, and in our growing numbers of well-qualified applicants-we see evidence of the high regard in which the University is held. The faculty |
| "We must investigate
a variety of strategies that will permit students to learn more effectively
and progress more rapidly on their own to their degree goals.
"We must seek enhancements
in institutional productivity that will permit Cal Poly to make more effective
use of its fixed resources...
"We must also helpfaculty and staff to achieve gains in productivity by restructuring workload rather than by increasing workload." |
and staff's hard work and
sacrifice to protect Cal Poly and the traditions it stands for means that
we can now begin to consider an ambitious plan for institutional renewal.
The possibility of considering such a plan now is also aided by the leadership that our faculty, staff and students have demonstrated in examining a number of important institutional and administrative issues. The Cal Poly Strategic Plan has provided us with a clear state-ment of mission and overall direction. Budget planning and physical plant master-planning have also been strengthened. The Charter University Commit-tees have helped establish Cal Poly's distinctive position within the CSU, and have provided inno-vative recommendations in the ar-eas of governance, financial man agement and employee relations. The Educational Equity Commis-ion and the Equal Opportunity Advisory Council have made sig-nificant progress in the analysis and development of recommendations related to an array of im-portant issues concerning cam-pus diversity and affirmative action. Several other recent commit-tees---including the Senate Cur-riculum Committee, the Senate GE & B Committee and Blue Ribbon Commission on GE & B, the Senate Committee on Student Throughput, the Program Review and Improvement Committee, and the Visionary Pragmatism committee-have investigated issues related to the curriculum and have helped to build consensus about our shared educational vision and about the educational challenges that face us as an institution. (At the same time, we have seen in some of these efforts evidence of a continuing need to find ways to link more effectively the polytechnic and liberal arts dimensions of our curriculum.) On the administrative side, Continuous Quality Improvement approaches have received increas-ing attention. Many areas, such as the management of financial aid for students, the recruiting, admitting and enrolling of stu-dents, and the process of getting information to students, have been made more effective and more efficient. What has happened, especially in our ability to communicate with students, is very positive, unmatched by most other universities. All of these efforts have helped lay the foundation for plans to further strengthen the University. They have, in particular, called our attention to the importance of quality--of defining it, measuring it and working continuously to improve it. They have also called our attention to the issue of productivity. With the recent years' reductions in faculty and staff we experienced what the textbooks might call gains in productivity. Class sizes have increased as facufty/student ratios have grown. But no one wishes further productivity gains of this sort. Instead: We must investigate a variety of strategies that will permit students to learn more effectively and progress more rapidly on their own to their degree goals. We must seek enhancements in institutional productivity that will permit Cal Poly to make more effective use of its fixed resources an expanded summer term is one example. We must also help faculty and staff to achieve gains in productivity by restructuring workload rather than by increasing workload. For example, we must help faculty gain access to the tools and |
| "Our
entering class is the largest in many years, the most diverse in terms
of ethnicity, and perhaps the strongest academically qualified group of
freshmen we have ever enrolled in the University."
"Cal Poly has important opportunities to restorefunding to a level sufficient to support enrollment growth while permitting us to invest in the enhancement of quality." |
services
they need to use their limited time more effectively, including access
to teaching assistants, technology and other resources. This will permit
faculty to gain discretionary time that may be used for creative activity
and for professional development and renewal, leading to improved educational
experiences for our students.
The initiatives of the past few years have also pointed to the importance of accountability, of assessing what we do and identifying ways to do it more effectively. Through all of these campus efforts we have begun a university-wide conversation about quality, productivity and accountability. The Cal Poly Plan would permit us to carry this conversation forward and to conduct practical tests of our concepts. Along with opportunities to enhance quality and productivity, Cal Poly has opportunities to expand student access through increased enrollments in the academic year and summer term. In looking at the prospects for enrollment growth at Cal Poly, we must start by acknowledging that we are not immune to and must be cognizant of the changes going on in the environment around us--changes that will contribute to Cal Poly's opportunities for growth: As
California enters the 21st century, the importance of a sound university
education will grow as will the demand for well prepared college graduates.
Further growth and change in the state's population will also create opportunities for enrollment growth at Cal Poly. While the magnitude of the increasing demand is yet unclear, it is clear that it will have a very significant impact on demand for higher education in the state and at Cal Poly. Many of the conditions required to accommodate additional enrollments are present at Cal Poly. The Master Plan of the University allows us to accommodate additional students. (Past enrollments have exceeded 15,000 academic year FTE, compared to 13,760 last year.) We are also experiencing steadily increasing applicant demand. We had nearly 16,000 applicants for this fall, the most applicants in a number of years. Our entering class is the largest in many years, the most diverse in terms of ethnicity, and perhaps the strongest academically qualified group of freshmen we have ever enrolled in the University. Now, if we do not approach the opportunity for enrollment growth carefully, it will simply lead us further down the path we were forced onto in 1990. It will lead to additional erosion of our resource base and to a long-term decline in our ability to serve students. For growth to be a positive force, it must be combined with a commitment to reverse the funding patterns of the last few years. We must, in particular, be aware of the need for differential funding of Cal Poly in relation to campuses that do not have Cal Polys unique programs and its special "Learn-by-Doing" tradition of teaching and learning. Cal Poly has, however, important opportunities to restore funding to a level sufficient to support enrollment growth while permitting us to invest in the enhancement of quality. |
| I believe the
State of California is committed to funding a significant share of the
average cost of educating additional college and university students.
This commitment is embedded inthe Governor's four-year compact with higher education, but competing interests for scarce tax dollars will most certainly continue and higher education will not be able to depend on general fund support for the restoration of quality or for investment in the innovation and change needed to make us both more effective and more efficient. Since our fees are very modest to begin with, I believe our students and their families are willing to consider additional fees in return for a commitment by the University to invest these revenues in significant qualitative improvements. From our preliminary understanding of student needs and priorities, for example, we know that the University must plan to invest in improvements such as increased access to classes, strengthened support services, and reduced institutional barriers to timely graduation. By reducing time to degree, students may in fact be able to enjoy an overall reduction in the cost of their education. We would in any case insist that an increase in fees be accompanied by policies that provide a safety net and guarantee the continued affordability of education for all students. Our objective is to remain a "best buy" in higher education. Finally, I believe
Cal Poly's many friends-our loyal alumni, our friends in industry and our
other- supporters-are prepared to increase their support for Cal Poly,
particularly in the context of a clear and ambitious plan for the future.
|
· As part of this Learn-by Doing philosophy, all Cal Poly programs require completion of a senior project for graduation. In addition, a high percentage of the academic programs at Cal Poly are "lab intensive," i.e., ten per cent or more of the required major and support units involving work in laboratory settings. Percentage of Undergraduate Programs that are "Lab Intensive" College
of Agriculture
87% College of Engineering
91%
The costs associated with operating lab-intensive programs are higher than traditional programs. These costs and the special space and safety needs of such programs limit the University's ability to respond to student demand. A number of programs offered at Cal Poly are not offered by other CSU campuses. Most of these programs require lab-intensive instruction - and the relatively high costs associated with it. Bachelor
Programs Unique to Cal Poly
Cal
Poly's three polytechnic colleges-Agriculture, Architecture and Environmental
Design, and Engineering -are among the largest and most highly regarded
in the country.
A number of special costs are associated with operating these polytechnic programs. For example, Cal Poly maintains 6,000 acres of land for field studies, agriculture production classes and architectural field projects. Without recognition of the unique, differential costs of polytechnic instruction, it will be difficult to maintain quality and expand access in a period of expanding student demand and rapid change in these fields. |
| "Chancellor
Barry Munitz and his staff are genuinely enthusiastic about our efforts
to develop a Cal Poly Plan."
"They
believe that Cal Poly is in many respects uniquely positioned within the
CSU to lead the way in developing innovative approaches to enrollment growth
and to the enhancement of quality and productivity. "
"We agreed that Cal Poly will explore strategiesfor significant enrollment growth over the next several years." |
THE
CORE THEMES OF A CAL POLY PLAN
Last year I initiated a series of conversations with the Chancellor's Office an with the faculty, staff andstudents of Cal Poly to begin to identify the elements of a plan that would permit Cal Poly to take advantage of the opportunities in the wider environment, a plan that would permit the University to grow, to expand its services to the State of California and simultaneously to preserve and build upon its reputation for educational quality and leadership. Over the summer, we continued those conversations: - We established a fourteen-member Steering Committee for the Cal Poly Plan. I will serve as chair of this committee, which includes representatives from the Academic Senate, the collective bargaining units, Staff Council, ASI and the administration. The Steering Committee met during the summer to discuss the core themes of a Cal Poly Plan and to review process issues related to further development of a plan. The several constituency groups represented on the Steering Committee held separate meetings to discuss ways in which they could participate in the development of the Plan. The Steering Committee will play a key role this year in providing for the consultation and communication required to achieve the substantive consensus we must have to move forward with the Cal Poly Plan. - I also met this summer with the deans and the academic administration of the University to discuss the Cal Poly Plan and review progress on it. They will play a central leadership role in developing a detailed strategic framework for the Plan. - We developed and began to carry out research strategies to provide the hard data needed to develop a solid plan. The Division of Student Affairs developed a multi-pronged research strategy for assessing student opinion on Cal Poly Plan-related issues, including a short Capture telephone survey, analysis of existing data and focus groups. The Academic Senate developed detailed plans to study faculty opinion. Staff Council is exploring a similar effort to gauge staff opinion. Administrative staff began studies of enrollment and financing issues associated with implementation of a Cal Poly Plan. - Three of Cal Poly's vice presidents along with staff met the Executive Vice Chancellor and the two Senior Vice Chancellors and reached a mutual understanding about the core themes of a Cal Poly Plan. The tone of our conversations with the Chancellor's Office has been very positive. Chancellor Barry Munitz and his staff are genuinely enthusiastic about our efforts to develop a Cal Poly Plan. They see in the Plan many potential benefits for the System and for the state as a whole. They believe that Cal Poly is in many respects uniquely positioned within the CSU to lead the way in developing innovative approaches to enrollment growth and to the enhancement of quality and productivity. As a result of our campus discussions this summer and our discussions with the Chancellor and his staff, we have begun to identify more clearly the core themes of a Cal Poly Plan. 1. We agreed that Cal Poly will explore strategies for significant enrollment growth over the next several years. Our tentative goal will be to move beyond last year's academic year FTE enrollment of 13,760 in order to reach 15,000 AY FTE, the physical capacity of the campus, and to achieve a sig- |
| "Enrollment
decisions will be made consistent with the Strategic Plan, including continued
emphasis on the value and importance of having a diverse student body."
"We
will pursue an optimal mix offundingfrom different sources.... "
"We
will pursue consensus about how to define and how to measure institutional
quality and student, institutional and facultylstaff productivity."
"We will explore the potential for greater campus latitude in curricular matters." |
nificant
increase in summer term enrollments. Enrollment decisions will be made
consistent with the Strategic Plan, including continued emphasis on the
value and importance of having a diverse student body.
2. As part of a Cal Poly Plan, we will explore ways to strengthen funding and increase our flexibility in the management of campus fiscal resources. We will pursue an optimal mix of funding from different sources (tax revenues, state university fees, campus fees and other sources), investigate ways of reducing restrictions on how funds from different sources may be used, and seek ways to link the funding of Cal Poly to our performance as a campus-rather than simply to the number of students we enroll. 3. We will pursue consensus about how to define and how to measure institutional quality and student, institutional and faculty/staff productivity. We will also identify practical initiatives to enhance quality and productivity. 4. We will place special emphasis on curricular issues. We will explore the potential for greater campus latitude in curricular matters. We will identify ways in which to follow up on the recommendations of recent curriculum studies, keeping in mind that our ultimate goal is to assist students in becoming productive members of society, with the breadth of preparation required to succeed and adapt in a rapidly changing world. |
|
Summary
of Mutual Understandings Arrived at Through Discussions Between Cal Poly
and the
A.
Primary Issues
B.
Other Substantive Issues
1.
The Management of Campus Finances: Fiscal Flexibility
2.
Employee Relations
3.
Quality, Productivity and Accountability
4.
Enrollment Management
5.
Process Assessment and Improvement
6.
Curricular Issues
7.
Future Growth
|
| "...implementation
of the Cal Poly Plan may take three to five years. "
"The Chancellor's Office has agreed to aid us, in pursuing whatever course o action is necessary to obtain ultimate approvalfor the Cal Poly Plan. " |
Several
other issues were addressed in our conversations with the Chancellor's
Office, including the need to continue the ongoing work of
the Charter Employee Relations Committee, the need to continue efforts
to assess and strengthen institutional processes, and the need to plan
for future growth beyond the present physical capacity of the campus.
. In our conversations with Chancellor's Office Staff we also indicated that implementation of the Cal Poly Plan may take three to five years. It will take somewhat longer to achieve and document results such as improvements in retention, in time to degree, in graduation rates, and in increased efficiency and resulting reductions of unit costs. I would like to emphasize again that the Chancellor and his staff are very supportive of our efforts to develop this plan for growth and renewal, and have indicated their willingness to support Cal Poly-practically and politically--in its development and implementation. We believe at this juncture that the fundamental goals of the Cal Poly Plan can be achieved within the framework of current Board of Trustees Policy. Should it be necessary to go to the Legislature to obtain legislative authorization for the plan, the political challenges will, of course, be greater. The Chancellor's Office has agreed to aid us, however, in pursuing whatever course of action is necessary to obtain ultimate approval for the Cal Poly Plan. This strong commitment by the CSU to work with Cal Poly, as an individual campus, to pilot innovative approaches to the issues facing the entire CSU System is an important milestone in the history of the CSU. It contains the promise of significant mutual benefits for both Cal Poly and the CSU System. |
|
"...the Cal Poly Plan is to be developed through an iterative process. "...certain key questions must be answered by December if we are to achieve the preliminary consensus needed to go forward with implementation of a plan in thefall of 1996." |
PROCESS
AND TIMETABLE FOR FUTURE DEVELOPMENT OF A CAL POLY PLAN
Where do we go next? First of all, the Cal Poly Plan is to be developed through an iterative process. · The University administration, including the Deans, will assume responsibility for initiating development of a detailed strategic framework for the Cal Poly Plan. · The final details of this framework are to be worked out in consultation with the Cal Poly Plan Steering Committee, whose members in turn will communicate and confer with their respective constituency groups-the faculty, student, and staff governance structures, as well as the collective bargaining units. We will continue to communicate regularly with the Chancellor and his staff. I have also invited the Chancellor to visit Cal Poly later this fall to share with us his views about the Plan - and its potential benefits for Cal Poly and the CSU System. Through this iterative process, certain key questions must be answered by December if we are to achieve the preliminary consensus needed to go forward with implementation of a plan in the fall of 1996. Additional questions will require study beyond the fall. Fall 1995 This fall we must provide preliminary answers to four major questions, and several related questions. Question
# 1: How should Cal Poly grow?
Question
# 2: How should we fund quality enhancement and enrollment growth?
Question # 3: What initial investments should we make9 As a starting point in answering this question, we must identify the investments in new faculty, in faculty support, in new technology and in other resources and services that will be required to guarantee some improvement in service to a somewhat larger student population at Cal Poly. In looking beyond these immediate needs, we will study very carefully the investment priorities identified by Cal Poly faculty, staff and students in surveys, focus groups, forums and other settings. We know already from existing data and from this summer's Capture Survey that students are keenly interested in |
|
".J believe we will gain the opportunity to choose and build our ownfuture, afuture that preserves and protects the best of what we do while enabling us to explore creative approaches to new challenges." "While I do not underestimate the challenges that lie ahead, I am tremendously excited by these opportunities and would like to invite you to join me in making them a reality." |
gaining
expanded access to classes, and this will clearly be an important priority.
Additional faculty will be needed, providing us with an opportunity to
recruit a diverse group of talented new faculty. We also know that faculty
need additional support. Providing that support, through measures like
the hiring of teaching assistants, the expansion of faculty access to technology
and the increased availability of other instructional resources, will also
be an important early priority.
Question
# 4: How do we begin the process of defining and linking quality, productivity
and accountability?
Beyond
this Fall
What is institutional quality? What sorts of initiatives are needed to restore quality where it has eroded and to promote enhanced quality? What priority should be given to investment in different quality-enhancing initiatives? What is productivity-for the institution as a whole and for faculty, staff and students? What sorts of initiatives will enable faculty, staff and students to enhance their productivity and to enjoy the benefits associated with enhanced productivity--including increased discretionary time to allocate to creative activity and improving the intellectual life of the campus? What priority should be given to investment in productivity enhancing initiatives? Once
we reach some consensus about the meaning of quality and productivity,
how can we measure our performance and progress in each area, and
what procedures can we put in place to apply the results of such measurements
to help make decisions about resource allocation and to inform efforts
at continuous improvement? (By taking these steps on our own we will be
able to ensure that appropriate parameters are being used to analyze the
University's performance, and not one-size-fits all parameters imposed
from outside.)
Through this ongoing conversationand through practical steps to apply and test the insights gleaned from it-I believe we will gain the opportunity to choose and build our own future, a future that preserves and protects the best of what we do while enabling us to explore creative approaches to new challenges. We will also gain the opportunity-and meet the obligation-to help lead the CSU and public higher education toward new ways of doing business. While I do not underestimate the challenges that lie ahead, I am tremendously excited by these opportunities and would like to invite you to join me in making them a reality. |