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Past Program

Nov 20 - Nov 24, 2002 UP-23SYM

The Funding of Higher Education

Abstract

One of the most serious policy questions higher education faces today is whether and how we can accommodate and effectively educate the growing numbers of young people in a system whose share of the tax base is steadily eroding. Without new ways of financing higher education, universities will continue to struggle vainly with the dilemma of size expansion and resource contraction. In order to be more economically viable, universities must make dramatic changes in their campus operations. Given this situation, universities are looking to each other for relevant experiences and new approaches with regard to the enhancement of revenue sources, the restructuring of academic programs and cost reduction.

 

In the year 2002, the Universities Project featured a different focus issue at each of its four symposia. These issues were chosen because they had consistently been the subject of extensive discussion during the Project’s first five years of programming. The issue that served as the focus for discussion at the November symposium was the funding of higher education. While this theme served as the main focus of the symposium, we also brought into the discussions the five core themes of the Universities Project:

 

1) University administration and finance;
2) Academic structure within the university;
3) Meeting the needs of students, and the role of students in Institutional affairs;
4) Technology in higher education;
5) The university and civil society.

 

The symposium featured plenary presentations followed by discussion as well as conversations in smaller working group format. In this way, we tried to maximize the opportunities for meaningful discussion afforded by both large and small formats. For general information on the Universities Project and the Salzburg Seminar and to see reports from past UP symposia as well as a 4-year comprehensive report, please check the information listed for other symposia.