By Timothy Renick - EvoLLLution. 1. How do systems built around predictive analytics, such as the GPS at Georgia State University, support staff productivity?
The goal is really twofold. It is in the first instance obviously to help students. We can use data more effectively to do so. There are all kinds of data points that we really had at our fingertips for years that we haven’t used aggressively, proactively enough to actually benefit our students. More...

By Kenneth Hartman - EvoLLLution. 1. What is the biggest roadblock stopping senior institutional administrators from taking steps to make their institutions more efficient?
Every institution is different but many of them have some of the same issues. For example, the governance structure — how strong or influential the board is, the faculty senate, unions, etc. There’s an issue of leadership in the experience of today’s presidents; we’re seeing a great turnover of university and college presidents at the two-year and four-year level. More...

By Michael Horn - EvoLLLution. 1. How does operational efficiency impact the cost of the higher education “product”, both for the institution to deliver and for the student to consume?
It’s a really important issue. The one that grabs headlines is the debt crisis for students and the cost to students. That would be one reason to think about it — to lower the cost to students — but the other reason that concerns the institution itself is the one that gets far less coverage. More...

By Diana Wu - EvoLLLution. 1. How can better operational efficiency help institutions become more nimble and responsive to market needs?
One way I think about operational efficiency is, “Why do we need to be more efficient?” Your end goal is not just to streamline or to reduce cost or to even think about how to better serve your customers. The end goal is actually about your organization’s broader goals; how to become nimble and responsive to market needs. More...

By Shaul Kuper - EvoLLLution. For a long time, efficiency was seen as an enemy of the Academy. Lurking in the shadows and threatening to take away from rigor and performance, efficiency was all but avoided at top institutions. But it’s no secret that the business model of higher ed is changing, and as a result, efficiency is being looked at through a different lens. More...

By Robert Wensveen - EvoLLLution. 1. What are some of the operational improvements that can help institutions effectively react to new opportunities and serve new marketplaces?
The first thing to consider is time to market for new courses and programs. If you can take a course and program or a new program and meet the demand the industry or the public has efficiently and quickly, then you’re going to be successful. More...

By Becky Takeda-Tinker - EvoLLLution. Does “efficiency” matter in higher education? If we consider what currently challenges American higher education — rising tuition rates, growing student debt, declining enrollment —  I believe it does. But efficiency is meaningless to students if they don’t see or experience the benefits directly. In other words, as institutions work to streamline and improve their internal processes to optimize staff contributions while lowering costs, it’s important they also take the opportunity to address changes that benefit students, and then communicate the effects of those changes as appropriate. More...

By Sharon Duffy - EvoLLLution. 1. How can better operational efficiency help institutions react to new opportunities and serve new marketplaces?
As a self-funded organization, we have to be efficient and responsive to the expectations of our students and other constituents we serve. We have to be flexible and this means our systems have to have enough structure that we aren’t always starting from scratch and reinventing processes when new opportunities come. More...

By Eric Denna - EvoLLLution. 1. What role do university IT professionals play in supporting the development of more business-like management of their institutions?
I worry that we characterize a for-profit business as efficient and the model to be aspired to and not-for-profit as inefficient and something to be overhauled. More...

By Brendan Aldrich - EvoLLLution. 1. What are some of the biggest challenges to efficiency that higher education institutions struggle with today?
Higher education has the challenge of not having placed a value on efficiency for many years, so it hasn’t been anything they’ve actively sought to achieve. With the financial challenges we face now in higher education, that has changed rather dramatically. More...