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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 Marie Cini - EvoLLLution. 1. As operational budgets start to shrink, but student expectations grow, operational efficiency has started to take center stage as a silver bullet for higher education administrators. When an institution is really efficient, though, do students notice the difference?
Operational efficiency is now starting to be viewed almost as an imperative; it’s not even a choice any more. Do students notice the difference? Absolutely. More...

By Joanne Goldstein - EvoLLLution. The relationship between business and higher education has tightened over the past decade and is at the point where there’s the possibility of great symmetry and synergy between the two. Its genesis and evolution have been well documented. In this competitive landscape, however, academic institutions need to differentiate themselves from their peers so that corporations select them as their preferred educational provider. More...

By Colleen Carmean - EvoLLLution. Just In Time. Famous words of the time-stressed, over-committed adult learner that now makes up more than 38 percent of the college-going population (according to a recent Student Clearinghouse report). Whether in assignments, courses, financial aid or getting to class, adult learners behave like most time and task-stressed adults; we queue things up as they need to get done. And sometimes, some of the demands just slip through the cracks. More...

By Dave King - EvoLLLution. 1. How does serving a diversity of students across the ‘spectrum of access’ impact an institution’s relative market potential?
These days, you have to go where the learners are. Our goal with trying to create a more seamless Spectrum of Access was to provide a granular approach for students so they could find what they want when they want it. That’s the old adage that has come from online access; you get what you want when you want it. 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...

By Kendra Cooks - EvoLLLution. 1. What impact does staff competency have on operational efficiency at a higher education institution?
Staff competency has a direct linkage to operational efficiency, regardless of industry. It’s staff planning, preparation and execution that yields the efficiency gains sought by managers and executive leadership. Unlike other industries, colleges and universities serve multiple constituents that have overlapping, and at times competing, needs. More...

By Elizabeth D. Capaldi Phillips - EvoLLLution. 1. What kinds of tasks dominated the time and resources of the student advising staff prior to the implementation of the eAdvisor system?
Advisors had to spend a lot of time on curriculum — what courses should students register for and take each semester to fulfill their requirements. It was particularly complex if a student wasn’t sure what to major in or if a student wanted to change majors. We have more than 290 majors here at ASU, so if a student wanted to change majors, it was a very error-prone [process] and very difficult for an individual to do that. More...