Board meetings usually focus on nuts-and-bolts issues--action items and financial matters that require immediate discussion and prompt decisions. But larger philosophical issues also sometimes float to the surface--matters having to do with institutional mission, campus ethos, or educational styles--and when these kinds of issues arise, it is…

Today's college and university boards find themselves faced with ever-increasing challenges as they attempt to meet the financial needs of their institutions while complying with a myriad of fiduciary responsibilities. How can boards best meet the financial needs of their institutions? Representatives of Ball State University Foundation describe…

Governing board members bear major and ultimate responsibilities as fiduciaries of the college or university they serve. Calls for increased accountability and developments such as financial volatility, transformational technology, internationalization, and increased regulation of governance have led to mounting attention to the quality of…

Forget basketball and March Madness. Aside from always pressing financial issues, it is "MOOC madness" that has emerged as the topic "du jour" at a growing number of American colleges and universities. Indeed, in boardrooms all across the country, people are grappling with what the advent of MOOCs--massive open online courses--means to their…

The changing landscape in higher education is increasingly forcing institutions to examine their long-standing business models and to start making changes. Leading those changes and overcoming internal resistance to them will require strong oversight from governing boards. What might an institution's review of its business model actually look…

The best way for trustees to fully understand and fulfill their responsibility to ensure that their institution is providing quality education and meeting academic goals is by asking appropriate questions. Collaboration among trustees, faculty members, and administrators is essential to framing questions from a strategic perspective. Just the act…

Managing liquidity--a college or university's ability to access cash quickly or to easily convert assets to cash--is an increasingly crucial component of enterprise risk management. Liquidity risks lurk around nearly every corner--in the endowment portfolio, the debt portfolio, and in working-capital management. It also influences students'…

Colleges and universities are thinking strategically about their business models. Reductions in state and federal appropriations, endowment volatility, fundraising uncertainties, and limits on tuition increases are creating persistent shortfalls in operating budgets. This all comes when institutions are being called upon to enroll and graduate…

The strategic plan represents an institution's top priorities. Yet colleges commonly set aside financial resources to pursue them only after investing in maintaining the status quo. When building a budget, boards should focus on putting institutional assets at the center of the process and aligning fiscal decisions with their college's mission and…

Many small colleges are struggling and should remember that denial is not prevention. Technology is providing new ways for students to get degrees without being a resident on a campus, accrediting agencies are increasing their demands for evidence that students are learning, and the costs for operating an institution (such as utilities and…

Among the many challenges facing college and university boards, one set of issues often is overlooked: those involving employment of non-tenure-track faculty members and the policies and practices shaping their work. There are a number of compelling reasons why boards not only should become knowledgeable about the relevant policies and practices,…

As governing boards have become more sophisticated and polished in their oversight of colleges and universities, they have also become more intentional in the way they organize themselves to meet their missions. Some boards have evolved entirely new structures. Even within the parameters of fairly traditional constructs, many boards have made…

While cost and completion are important issues, they are not the fundamental problems that have put higher learning in crisis. What calls for urgent attention is low "value"--a critical deficit in the quality and quantity of learning in college. To state it as plainly as possible: Most students graduate without learning enough. There is no longer…

College and university boards are well aware of the pressures facing their institutions today, ranging from diminished or uncertain financial support to competitors offering new and sometimes less-expensive educational services. To help meet those challenges, boards need to ask probing questions about all the possible ways their institutions can…

Many institutions develop specific measures or indicators--often called "dashboards"--to inform boards and top administrators about the college or university's current situation and performance and assist them in moving the institution ahead strategically. And, increasingly, institutions are using metrics not only to assess internal…