This chapter, drawing from the previous chapters, synthesizes potential directions and implications of future innovation in higher education. The focus is on innovation to address critical issues that administrators face today: the adaptability, maturity, cost structure, and efficiency of the institution.

As an enterprise that relies heavily on state funding, public higher education has long seen its support rise and fall with the boom-and-bust cycle of the economy. This chapter examines how the University System of Maryland repositioned itself as a state system able to thrive in an era of permanently diminished resources and perpetually escalating…

According to any accounting method, ERP investments are among the largest single concentrated investments in dollars and human resources ever made by higher education in any area.

The importance and attention given to information systems are relatively new phenomena in the history of higher education. This chapter documents the ascendancy of information systems in the scheme of institutional priorities and considers the strengths and weaknesses associated with vended and homegrown systems.