Enterprise Management

In 2009, I was called upon to help Greensboro College, a small, 174-year-old private liberal arts college in North Carolina, which was experiencing a whole range of problems typical of many institutions of higher education in recent years. In the booming economy of the early 2000s, the college had made some big real-estate purchases. It had started a football program, graduate programs and a marching band. But as the economy started to sour in 2008, its bankers got worried, and the college found itself placed in the Special Assets department.

A comprehensive program for community college-based workforce service providers.
January 30-February 2, 2013
Sheraton San Diego Hotel and Marina
San Diego, CA

Ann Mead, Western Kentucky University's vice president for finance and administration, is one of 15 chief financial officers traveling to Germany next month to study lean management in higher education. “Do More with Less — Implementing Change in Higher Education Management in Germany” is a program sponsored by the Institute of International Education and the German-American Fulbright Commission. It will enable the CFOs to compare lean management at U.S. and German universities and identify best practices in both systems.

Of all the blinders limiting our ability to increase productivity in higher education, it is our insularity that has the greatest potential to do harm. We tend to look for inspiration and lessons only from other institutions among our post-secondary peer group, while failing to see the relevant wisdom in information industries in adjacent sectors.