Strategic Allocations Policy Directive
Adopted by the Board of Regents, Dec. 14, 1994
The University System of Georgia will lead in access to academic excellence. Among the nation s public universities and colleges, Georgia s will be recognized. . . . Georgians will appreciate the System s prestige and leadership in public higher education. . . .
To these ends, the University System of Georgia will be characterized by: A whole that is greater than the sum of its parts . . . A Constitutional Board of Regents that establishes clear policies and review proceduresto promote the continuing improvement of every unit and of the System as a coordinatedwhole, that encourages initiative and innovation throughout the System, that requiresfull accountability from all, and that insures responsible stewardship.
The University System of Georgia will hold itself accountable to the citizens of Georgia for the effective and efficient use of every available material resource . . . to achieve access to academic excellence. . . .
-- Access to Academic Excellence
The University System of Georgia
Shall . . . insure that its budgetary policies and practices all support its strategic priorities.
Shall encourage its institutions of all sizes to be full partners in inter-unit collaboration [and] provide incentives for technological and other innovations. . . .
Shall . . .encourage program collaboration and otherwise minimize unnecessary program duplication among its institutions, particularly in costly programs.
Shall promote to Georgians and the nation its commitment to service by supporting strong undergraduate, graduate and professional education, pathbreaking research and creativity,and other national patterns of academic excellence in its curricula and operations.
Shall insure that its historically black institutions are models of access to academic excellence, full partners in land-grant and other collaborations, and assets in the entire System s continuing initiatives to eradicate inequities and to increase current opportunities for all Georgians.
-- Principles #24, 19, 13, 8, and 12
GOALS:
To use strategic priorities as well as the enrollment formula in allocating budgetary resources, starting with FY 1996.
To use FY 1996 allocations to encourage interinstitutional collaboration and to enhance national patterns of academic excellence (including at the historically black institutions as assets).
BACKGROUND:
Over the last several years, budget dollars have been allocated to the various institutions using an incremental process. Each institution has received the previous year s allocation as its base, plus new EFT workload, salary and fringe benefit dollars, funds for the maintenance of new buildings, and other operating cost and inflationary increases when available. New workload has been distributed to each institution, generally, using the formula adjusted to reflect institutional type, with only the additional student credit hours as the formula basis. Salary money, operating costs, and similar increases were allocated based on various other formulas. As a practice, no institution s budget has been reduced because of a fall in enrollment.
IMPLEMENTATION:
As a first step toward more strategic System allocations, the Chancellor s Office is recommending that a portion of the workload and any funds restored from previous budget cuts be allocated to the institutions based on institutional proposals rather than formulas. The proposals shall address the strategic areas of program collaboration and national patterns of academic excellence. The portion of the workload thus distributed, as well as the selection of particular proposals for funding, will be determined based on the quality of the proposals and the likelihood of their success in advancing effective program collaboration and/or national patterns of excellence. The Chancellor s Office will encourage, in particular, the involvement of the System s historically black institutions in proposals for each strategic area.
Priority for program collaboration proposals shall be given to those requests for start-up programs that minimize unnecessary duplication among institutions, that enhance currently operating cooperative programs, and/or that further collaboration with our partners in education. Institutions shall be encouraged to develop proposals that incorporate new technology and ideas, such as distance learning, other video-based instruction, and the post-secondary options program.
Priority for proposals addressing national patterns of academic excellence shall be given to those requests that strengthen programs central to the mission(s) of the proposing institution(s) and/or nationally recognized programs, and/or requests that upgrade the resources of such programs (including new senior faculty, equipment, facility reconfigurations, and other resources, but excluding major capital projects). Securing and maintaining accreditation will be considered a prerequisite for nationally recognized programs. Proposals may also include, within the context of academic excellence, research/service centers associated with programs that are central to mission and/or nationally recognized.
The Board of Regents therefore directs that:
The Chancellor s Office detail the guidelines for proposals and communicate them to the institutions before December 31, 1994.
Institutions wishing to make proposals submit them to the Chancellor s Office by February 15, 1995.
The Chancellor s Office design and execute a process to review the proposals, and make allocation recommendations to the Board at its April 1995 meeting.
The Board further directs that all work on the development and review of proposals be aimed toward helping the System to achieve its vision of Access to Academic Excellence, and be guided by its Guiding Principles for Strategic Action, including, in particular, #8, 12-13 on academic excellence and recognition, and #19 and 24 on efficient use of resources.
