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The flagship Orono campus will change its chartered course if plans to overhaul the University of Maine System, released last week as part of a five-year strategic plan crafted by university officials, become a reality.
The plan calls for enhancing the prominence and research capabilities of the Orono campus, the “largest institution in the system and the one best poised for significant enhancement,” while the system’s other six universities would be consolidated into four institutions. All two-year programs would be phased out and passed on to the state’s community college system, according to the plan.
The proposal is designed to reallocate funding and resources based on each institution’s designated mission, thereby meeting the system’s academic and economic responsibilities to the state. With a projected savings of $15.5 million once the plans are fully implemented, university officials hope to revitalize and unify a system that must overcome a projected $50 million deficit over the next two fiscal years.
“I think it’s going to be a challenge,” said James Mullen, UMS board of trustees member and chair of the planning committee. “We have such an enormous deficit facing us.”
The proposed reforms would become the most extensive restructuring the system has ever seen, but are designed to make public higher education in Maine more efficient and responsive to the academic needs of students and faculty, while contributing to economic development in the state, the plan states.
“There’s a tendency over time at all campuses to expand,” Mullen said. “We can’t be all things to all people,” he said, adding that defining each institution’s mission will lessen the overall effects of budget cuts throughout the system.
Under the plan, the system campuses at Fort Kent, Machias and Presque Isle would be consolidated to become the rural University of Northern Maine, with all three campuses remaining open and operating under one administration. The Augusta campus, which currently offers most of the system’s associate degree programs, would fall under the University of Southern Maine and provide bachelor’s and limited graduate programs in public policy and business administration. USM would move forward as the state’s urban campus, with increased focus on business offerings and a limited research capacity.
The University of Maine at Farmington would maintain a capped enrollment as a public liberal arts college, continuing strong teacher training programs, according to the plan.
In addition, the system’s 11 college outreach centers would either become affiliated with one of the four remaining campuses or face elimination, as is planned for the Calais, East Millinocket and Dover-Foxcroft centers, which would then fall under the community college system. The Hutchinson Center, located in Belfast, would remain a satellite facility of UMaine, according to the plan.
The system’s 100 distance-learning ITV sites, a convenience for nontraditional and commuter students, would be eliminated in favor of using more modern technology already available through public schools throughout the state, the plan states.
The plan does not outline the future role of the University College of Bangor, a satellite facility affiliated with the Augusta campus.
As part of the plan’s call for a renewed focus on research at UMaine, Fogler Library would serve as the system’s single research library, a “critical part” of the overall plan, Mullen said.
“I think it’s been neglected for a number of years,” he said.
Fogler’s increased responsibilities would include providing resources to all of the system’s campuses, as well as collaborating with the Maine State Library in Augusta on the development of a comprehensive statewide digital library, according to the plan.
Made public Thursday on the UMS Web site, the plan will take about five years to implement, Mullen said, and will save money by eliminating some administrative positions, centralizing business functions and reducing duplication of services. Officials hope the plan will reduce competition between the system’s institutions by phasing out programs that do not meet each school’s newly designated mission, and rewarding financially those institutions that meet goals concerning student enrollment and retention, budget management and private fundraising, the plan states.
University presidents, who were included in the planning process led by UMS Chancellor Joseph Westphal, Vice Chancellor Elsa Nunez, and the board of trustees, would be held responsible for maintaining adequate funding, according to the plan.
Despite the cost-saving measures, however, tuition increases throughout the system may be necessary to overcome an estimated $85 million structural gap in the budget within the next four years, Mullen said, resulting in part from reduced state funding for public higher education in recent years.
“Some tuition increase is probably inevitable,” he said, adding that UMS has avoided the major tuition hikes that have occurred at universities in other states.
Increased financial aid proposed in the plan may help to ease the burden on students, however, with $11 million in additional funding projected for fiscal year 2008, according to the plan.
It has not been determined which of UMaine’s course offerings will be phased out, but students currently enrolled will be able to complete their work, Mullen said.
“We have an obligation to students already involved in certain programs,” he said.
With the plan’s emphasis on improved faculty development, system professors and professional employees would also enjoy a $10.8 million overall increase in salaries by fiscal year 2008, according to the plan. The added funding would bring those wages to 90 percent of the national average, the plan states.
Support for research and scholarship among faculty, as well as providing opportunities for professors to interact with colleagues throughout the system, will help to ensure a “high-quality and well-supported” faculty, according to the plan. Criteria for faculty review would be strengthened, with targets set for endowed professorships and endowed chairs, the plan states
Some system employees, however, could be threatened with layoffs as a result of the proposed centralization of administrative and business functions, Mullen said. Officials have not yet announced how many jobs cuts would result from the plan’s execution.
“We’re optimistic that some of that can be done through attrition,” Mullen said, by not filling positions left open through retirement or voluntary departures.
System officials will continue to visit with staff, students and faculty at each of the campuses to address concerns and accept suggestions before a revised plan is submitted to the board of trustees for approval this fall, Mullen said. Public input gained through previous campus visits was considered during the plans development, with comments coming in “all over the board,” Mullen said.
“There isn’t enough money that seems to be a common theme, whoever you ask,” he said.
The plan can be viewed on the UMS Web site at www.maine.edu/spp, and dates for the upcoming public comment sessions will be posted there as well, Mullen said.
By working with students, faculty and staff, along with the community, the final plan should meet the states educational aspirations for the future, Mullen said.
“The ultimate goal of this is the education of Maine’s citizens,” he said.
Proposed Changes
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE
* Maine’s flagship research institute with the satellite facility in Belfast to continue operations under the UMaine umbrella.
UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN MAINE
Campuses to include:
* Fort Kent
* Presque Isle
* Machias
University College centers assigned:
* Houlton
* Ellsworth
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN MAINE
Campuses to include:
* Gorham
* Portland
* University of Maine at Augusta would be absorbed, as well as its satellite centers in Lewiston-Auburn.
University College centers assigned:
* Rumford-Mexico
* Thomaston
* Bath-Brunswick
* Sanford
* Saco-Biddeford
* Oxford Hills
UNIVERSITY OF MAINE AT FARMINGTON
* Will remain a public liberal arts school with strong teacher training programs.
OTHER SYSTEM-WIDE CHANGES
* Eliminate presence in Calais, East Millinocket and Dover-Foxcroft.
* 100 independent distance-learning ITV sites eliminated.
