A method to calculate the need for academic staff per faculty, based on educational programs and numbers of students, is described which is based on quantitative relations between programs, student enrollment, and total budget. The model is described schematically and presented in a mathematical form adapted to computer processing. Its application for the department of psychology at the University of Nijmegen is given. Field research is reported. A concept of education is formulated as a starting point for the construction of a model, and the university is described in terms of systems theory. Proposals are made for: (1) the development of an information model by means of fundamental research on elements and variables that are of special importance to a university policy on education and research, relevant to the type of management that a university requires; and (2) the extension and refinement of the model, relating programs, student numbers and means. (LBM)