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Things are tough, and getting tougher, for the state’s colleges and universities. The $250 million budget cut to higher education over the last 18 months has resulted in the elimination of hundreds of positions and dozens of academic programs.

The trouble isn’t over by a long stretch. Post-secondary education budgets were facing a possible reduction of another $85 million in March, and expect to be trimmed further in 2010-11. New challenges are afoot in 2012, when federal stimulus funding now helping to buoy the state budget dries up.

The one silver lining, says Barry Erwin, president and CEO of the Council for a Better Louisiana, is that the situation might finally trigger the reform of pesky, long-ignored issues that have compromised the stability and competitiveness of higher education in the state. These include the ability of campuses to raise tuition independently, which they will acquire if the proposed Louisiana GRAD Act passes during the current legislative session.

Other relevant issues to tackle include the duplication of regional academic programs, poor graduation rates and the overlapping missions of some two-year and four-year schools. Finally taking action, say many state leaders, will improve Louisiana’s higher education performance over the long term.

“This really requires us to think about what we have to do. It forces some of these issues,” Erwin says. “There’s low-hanging fruit, for sure, but after you get past that, it gets very hard.”

Universities will not only continue making cuts, they’ll also need to develop relevant programs that dovetail with state economic development goals and that have the potential to attract research funds and to spark private sector investment, say state economic developers.

“There is so much emphasis on cutting and duplication, and that’s important. But what we also need to find out is what needs to be brought in to help universities make money,” Baton Rouge Area Chamber President/CEO Adam Knapp says. “There are broader implications of this current shift in higher ed. Everyone has to understand how you compete in this environment.”

Here are five actions that could be taken to save higher education from itself:

Eliminate regional duplication

The state Board of Regents has already begun recommending the phased elimination of many programs at two- and four-year institutions, including outdated or outmoded programs at community and technical colleges and programs with low completion rates at four-year schools. Erwin says it’s not enough.

“So far, cutting programs hasn’t yielded tremendous savings,” he says. “The budget cuts are too large, and the desire to hang on to programs for political reasons is too strong.”

That seems set to change, however, as the institutions have little choice but to continue phasing out programs.

“We’re going to have to give up some programs we now have,” LSU Chancellor Michael Martin told the Baton Rouge Press Club in March. “This is a national phenomenon. Every university that wants to remain excellent has to do so in this environment. We’re in the process right now of reviewing academic programs, and I will be candid with you: Some will not be here in a few years.”

University of Louisiana System President Randy Moffett says that while the eight schools under his purview have aggressively “trimmed the margins” recently, it’s not enough to reduce the budget by $77 million, the amount required of the UL System as of early March. He says that one of the next steps will be a self-assessment by university presidents on the elimination of additional programs. Moffett expects to receive recommendations by July.

“The presidents will submit plans about what to keep,” he says. “They know what they have to do, but no one wants to say [they’re] going to eliminate program X if they don’t have to because, in essence, they have eliminated it when they say it.”

Connect research with “Blue Ocean” sectors

Some academic programs may help improve the position of their respective universities because of their relevance to the state’s new and emerging industry sectors. LSU’s AVATAR initiative is one example.

Launched in 2008, the multidisciplinary digital media program is short for Arts, Visualization, Advanced Technologies and Research. Faculty from a handful of departments team up to teach and conduct research in four key areas: computer graphics, interactive systems, digital art and design, and computer music.

The rapid rise of video gaming, along with the stability of other aspects of the digital arts sector, helped establish AVATAR. This fall, following the elimination of a slew of “low completer” programs statewide, the initiative will launch a new Digital Media minor.

“We needed to provide a curriculum that would allow students to move into the field,” says Stephen David Beck, a professor of music who is AVATAR’s coordinator. “Not a week has gone by that I haven’t gotten a call from a student or a parent who says, ‘How do I do [digital media] at LSU?’ I have every expectation this will be a very popular minor.”

Further improving AVATAR’s value proposition is that it supports one of the six areas identified in Louisiana Economic Development’s Blue Ocean strategy. Digital media and software development, next-generation automobiles, specialty health care, renewable energy/energy efficiency, water management and next-wave oil and gas have been selected as areas in which the state has a reasonable chance of achieving a competitive advantage. Academic programs that can support these fields, which themselves expect to yield substantial job creation, have a better chance of attracting funding—and students.

Expand distance learning

Online degree programs should emerge as common practice for colleges and universities in Louisiana for several reasons. They trim cost per student by about two-thirds. Convenience to students can help improve graduate rates, a historic challenge for all of the state’s colleges and universities. Online classes are also tremendous opportunities for institutional cost-sharing, since students from several universities can potentially enroll in an online class administered by a single school.

“We’re very aggressively pursuing online degrees and distance education,” Martin says. “There is a market of nontraditional students that we can tap.”

Meanwhile, the UL System is preparing to offer a network of online options throughout its eight schools. Northwestern State University in Natchitoches, Moffett says, has been a longtime leader in the area, having invested in infrastructure more than a decade ago. Moffett says classes will soon be open to all students within the UL system, regardless of their home school.

Despite the program’s long-range cost savings, it will require an initial capital investment for some schools, and upkeep for others.

“The challenge for schools will be to maintain the training, professional development and equipment needs required to do this right,” Moffett says.

Clarify the missions

Historically, regional four-year institutions with few entrance requirements have been the choice of most college-bound Louisianans, in part because of the absence of a community and technical college system. Now, say education experts, it’s time to shore up the missions of both four-year institutions and the improved crop of two-year schools operating under the relatively new Louisiana Community and Technical College System.

“Because we didn’t have a developed community and technical college system in the state, our four-year schools had a lot of associate degrees and open admissions,” Moffett says. “Now that’s changed. What you have is a shift, a changing role for the four-year schools and an evolving role for the community and technical schools.”

Currently, about half of high school graduates in other southern states attend community and technical colleges, while in Louisiana, the figure is only about 25%. “The state is an anomaly in the number enrolled in four-year versus two-year schools. We’re well out of line with the southern average,” Knapp says.

Consequently, Knapp adds, graduation rates suffer, since students who might be a better fit at a two-year college are enrolled in four-year institutions. The remedy is to shift two-year degrees to community and technical colleges and continue to increase admission standards at four-year institutions.

“We’ve already shifted about 20 associate degree programs to the community and technical college system, and we plan to do more,” Moffett says.

Expand research

Strong research programs will be crucial in building an institution’s brand and in attracting new funds.

“We are going to be as entrepreneurial and energetic as we possibly can in the pursuit of grants and contracts,” Martin says. “That’s the energy and the fuel that drives our research programs and in many ways our graduate programs.”

The most effective strategy is one that links research to economic development.

“Everyone dreams of a Gatorade-type win,” says Knapp, referencing the well-known sports drink that sprang from the work of researchers at the University of Florida in 1965. It’s a tangible, real-world example of what can result when research is funded and fostered within an institution.

Such wins, whether they lie in thirst quenchers or cancer treatments, don’t happen without financial support. Knapp and other members of the Louisiana Innovation Council are exploring the idea of a state body that could foster research and entrepreneurship among the state’s research institutions. The Georgia Research Alliance, Erwin says, is being examined as an example of a body that identifies and funds promising new ideas, especially ones with strong investment potential. “It’s almost like looking at new ideas the way a fund manager does,” he says.

The other necessary component for institutions is a strong office of technology transfer, which helps academics transport their work from the laboratory to the marketplace in the most effective manner, Knapp says. It assists with licensing, patenting and the start-up of new ventures.

“In order for this to really work, these kinds of resources need to be beefed up,” he says. “This is an important part of the equation.

SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT

Louisiana’s systems of higher education:

Louisiana Community and Technical College System

Baton Rouge Community College

Bossier Parish Community College, Bossier City

Delgado Community College, New Orleans

L.E. Fletcher Community College, Houma

Louisiana Delta Community College, Monroe

Louisiana Technical College [40 campuses]

Elaine P. Nunez Community College, Chalmette

River Parishes Community College, Sorrento

South Louisiana Community College, Lafayette

SOWELA Technical Community College, Lake Charles

LSU System

LSU

University of New Orleans

LSU Alexandria

LSU Eunice

LSU Shreveport

Southern University System

Southern University, Baton Rouge

Southern University, New Orleans

Southern University, Shreveport

University of Louisiana System

Grambling State

Louisiana Tech

McNeese State

Nicholls State

Northwestern State

Southeastern Louisiana

University of Louisiana at Lafayette

University of Louisiana at Monroe