Section 6: Changes in External Environment

In this section, faculty and staff were asked to share their views on changing factors related to enrollment and revenues and competition with other institutions. NCHEMS analyses suggest that respondents at public institutions report greater uncertainty and difficulty in obtaining financial resources than do respondents at private institutions. In contrast, respondents at private institutions report more uncertainty about future enrollments than do respondents at public institutions. Respondents at institutions with a heavy investment in liberal arts and science programs report greater uncertainty concerning enrollments and perceive higher levels of competition than do respondents at institutions with a heavy emphasis on professional programs.

What is our survey data telling us?

Although this section generated a high rate of Don't Know responses from the faculty and staff, in general Columbia community members recognize increased competition for students with other colleges and universities during the past few years, in terms of price, program, and area served. The respondents remain very optimistic about the College's ability to recruit more potential students. Contrary to this strong optimistic view, the respondents are uncertain about what kind of external factors may affect the College's enrollment.

Faculty and staff, like colleagues in other institutions, are concerned with obtaining non-tuition financial resources and with the increasing uncertainty of external financial resources.

The following comments from survey respondents illustrate the range of perspectives on the institutional issues discussed in this section:

School doesn't look to what other schools are doing. "Reinvents the wheel" with every decision.

Columbia College is an amazing place that I feel proud to be a part of. Nonetheless, the college needs to face up to several fundamental failures of its identity and mission within the current financial, educational, and professional context of the global 21st century....

Data for this section

For further information, please contact: hwexler@colum.edu