USM Board of Regents Approves New E&E 2.0 Initiative to Save Taxpayer Dollars, Improve Student Academic Performance and Spur Innovation
Adelphi, Md. (Feb.
13, 2015)
-- Expanding the use of analytics tools to increase student success and
streamlining outdated procurement policies are among the recommendations
approved today by the University System of Maryland (USM) Board of Regents. The
recommendations are part of the Effectiveness and Efficiency 2.0 (E&E 2.0)
Initiative, a critical new phase of USM's legacy of efforts to yield savings
and cost avoidance while enhancing academic quality.
In fall
2014, board chair James L. Shea charged a new E&E 2.0 Workgroup to create a
structure for improving USM's overall academic quality and increasing the value
of higher education to the benefit of Maryland citizens, all while reducing
costs.
E&E 2.0 includes
near-term plans for high-impact efficiency initiatives during the current
fiscal year. A longer-term E&E framework will promote further innovation,
entrepreneurship, and accountability.
Several
guiding principles frame the plan, including an emphasis on collaboration and
inter-institutional activities and a commitment to optimal use of technology in
campus and system-wide operations. E&E 2.0, approved by the board at its
meeting today at Bowie State University, can be accessed here.
Suggestions and feedback regarding E&E 2.0 and can be sent via email to eande@usmd.edu.
In the near
term, Chancellor William E. "Brit" Kirwan will work with institutional
leadership to prioritize a number of recommendations.
Among these
recommendations is a multi-institutional approach to using predictive analytics
to increase student success, using data for early identification of struggling
students and timely interventions. The plan also implements faculty retirement
programs, as allowed under current board policies, to renew faculty and take
full advantage of emerging academic opportunities. The plan also seeks to increase
attractive academic programs at USM's historically black universities.
"E&E 2.0
will position us to uphold the USM's long-standing values of quality, access,
affordability, and fiscal stewardship," Kirwan said. "This plan continues the
vision set forth by the board in USM's Strategic Plan 2020. It also represents
bold thinking and positions USM to thrive in the future by enhancing student
success and operating most efficiently.
"I would
like to express my appreciation for the hard work of everyone in the workgroup
who developed this vital plan, under the leadership of Regent Gary Attman."
On a
long-term basis, E&E 2.0 will leverage University of Maryland University
College's (UMUC's) expertise in the delivery of online education and technology
to help other USM campuses offer specific programs in ways that benefit the
student, UMUC and the respective partner campus.
Other
extended-horizon initiatives are use of cloud computing and information
technology outsourcing, and pursuit of organizational changes to encourage academic
and business functions across multiple organizational units to work collectively.
"The University System of Maryland has consistently
been a leader in enhancing effectiveness while creating efficiencies in our
operations," Attman said. "E&E 2.0 represents an attempt to create a new
paradigm by looking at ways that we can remove bureaucratic obstacles, leverage
our existing resources and use new technologies to be the best we can possibly
be for the citizens of Maryland."
The USM will
use metrics consistently to determine how E&E 2.0 is making an impact on
the state. The system will report on cost savings, cost avoidance, revenue, and
strategic reallocation.
E&E 2.0
also will draw on the findings of a Board of Regents workgroup, known as
Enabling Transformation Through Technology and Innovation (ETTTI), that
convened during the 2013-14 academic year. The ETTTI report included
recommendations related to improving student retention and using statistical
analysis to improve student success, can be found here.
The USM
launched its initial Effectiveness and Efficiency Initiative in 2003-04 to
manage a number of unprecedented challenges prevalent at that time: declining
state aid; rising costs in energy and health care; rising demands on higher
education in an economy increasingly based on knowledge and information; and
surging enrollment from the "baby boom echo." As of winter 2015, the
USM had saved more than $544.7 million through that Effectiveness and Efficiency
(E&E) Initiative.
Contact: Mike Lurie
Phone: 301.445.2719
Email: mlurie@usmd.edu