Economic downturns can lead companies doing business internationally to cut costs by reducing staff and/or closing subsidiaries. Efficiency in downsizing can put people and capital to their most effective use. This exercise educates students about country differences in labor termination practices, costs, legal requirements for downsizing, and…

Causes contributing to academic program audit and review becoming a means of resource reallocation in higher education are considered, along with principles relevant to its management, and major issues surrounding its development and implementation. The current interest in the audit and review of established academic programs is linked to…

Program discontinuance at colleges and universities is often linked to issues of program demand and quality. However, neither low demand nor low quality is sufficient for program discontinuance without a judgment on the criterion of the centrality of the program to the institution's core mission. Colleges' retrenchment and survival mechanisms…

A nationwide process in the Netherlands is discussed in which a number of specific disciplines were concentrated in one or a few Dutch universities. The decisive roll of political arguments and consequences for future government and academic planning are addressed. Both universities and government believed that ongoing retrenchment could no longer…

Data from the Survey on Higher Education Finances and Services were analyzed to determine whether higher education institutions (n=711) experienced operating budget cuts during the fiscal year (after the budget was initially approved) between fiscal years 1990 and 1993. While 17 percent had experienced such cuts during fiscal year 1990, this…

Most administrators approach program reduction as a budget issue; in reality, it is a governance and planning issue of major importance for the 1980s. Steps in a planning process for program discontinuance (including pitfalls) are described, based on a national study supported by the Exxon Foundation. (Author/LB)

Results of a 1979 survey of 46 states on patterns of program reduction are presented, and the institutional shrinkage process currently being implemented at the University of Michigan is examined. Additionally, several hierarchical and sequential reduction strategies, including Balderston's budgetary strategies, are reviewed. At the University of…

Effective ways to handle program discontinuance were studied based on experiences at 10 campuses. Two variables that were considered to be institutional approaches to financial difficulties are the degree of financial difficulty and the degree of control exercised by the institutional leaders. The study sample was drawn primarily from large public…

The origin and extent of program reduction and discontinuance at colleges and universities, the elements of program review, and a framework for developing long-range organizational planning are considered. Program discontinuance refers to the merger of related programs, the elimination of certain degrees or programs within departments, and the…