Majors with few graduates up for possible cuts

The move aims to increase efficiency and cut costs.

By Ethan Colbert

Published Sept. 28, 2010

Representatives from the Missouri Department of Higher Education and several public colleges discussed cutting small academic programs at a meeting earlier this month in Sedalia.

The meeting reviewed new initiatives from Gov. Jay Nixon meant to improve higher education. With these new goals, a review of all degree programs is required, and the department will make a list of academic programs not producing enough graduates.

For undergraduate degree programs, the initiatives target those that have produced 10 or fewer graduates per academic year. The review also targets masters programs with fewer than five degrees per year and doctoral programs with three or fewer graduates.

DHE spokeswoman Kathy Love said the department doesn’t know how many such programs exist in the state or at MU. She said the intent of the review is to increase efficiency.

“The purpose is to reduce costs and unnecessary duplication where possible,” she said in an interview last week. “Many of these programs meet the productivity threshold described above and are valuable and will continue to exist.”

In a news release, David Russell, interim commissioner of the Coordinating Board for Higher education, said the DHE will look at more than 4,000 degree programs at colleges around the state. MU Deputy Provost Kenneth Dean said some programs might not meet the review’s requirements.

“There are some programs (here at MU) that do not meet the stated criteria listed,” he said. “However, over the next several weeks we will be evaluating and examining each of these programs. It is important to note that the vast number of majority of our programs do meet the stated criteria.”

He said a program’s number of graduates will not be the only measure of its worth.

“This (the number of graduates) will only be one factor that will be considered,” he said. “Many of these programs are not offered elsewhere, are central to our core missions and contribute to our interdisciplinary programs.”

DHE guidelines say degree programs must be aimed at meeting goals of their institution or the state. Schools will provide justification for programs not meeting the review criteria.

Dean said MU reviews all of its programs as part of its budgeting process and said national groups also review them for accreditation purposes.

“We are committed to continuously re-evaluating our programs to insure that they meet student and societal expectations and needs,” he said.

Dean said that if a program is cut, students in the program would still be allowed to graduate from it.

“We would continue that program until all students currently in the ‘pipeline' were finished, although we would not take new students into the program,” he said.

Love said the state would not immediately eliminate faculty positions in programs that don’t meet the criteria.

“At this time the Coordinating Board for Higher Education does not have the intent to or the authority to cut faculty positions,” she said. “However, one of the governor’s strategic goals for higher education is to identify areas of cooperation and collaboration for potential savings.”

Dean and Love said the board would likely receive information about which programs meet the criteria later this year or early next year.