IAH Academic Leadership Program, Trustees, and UNC Administrators address growth

Student enrollment at UNC-Chapel Hill has grown 16% over the past ten years.  How much can—or should—Carolina grow over the next ten years?  That was the question of the night when twelve members of the Board of Trustees, the Chancellor, the Provost, the Director of Admissions, and faculty from the IAH Academic Leadership Program and the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee sat down for dinner in Hyde Hall on March 26.

As of fall 2007, there were 28,136 students at UNC.   Of that total, 17,628 (63%) are undergraduate students, 8,177 (29%) are graduate students, and 2,331 (8%) attend the professional schools.  Enrollment projections for the year 2017 range anywhere from 29,477 (a 5% increase) to 33,000 (17% increase) or even as high as 35,000 (24% increase).

The March 26 dinner provided an opportunity for the Trustees and UNC administrators to discuss with faculty how to manage growth in ways that do not undermine Carolina’s current strengths.  While there has been no mandate from either the legislature or the Board of Governors for UNC-Chapel Hill to take more students, the growing population of 18 year olds in the state creates an indirect pressure to which the university has been, and will continue to, respond.  At this point, no target number has been set, even as enrollment has steadily increased.  Almost everyone agreed that deciding on a specific number would be a good strategy and enhance the ability to manage growth.  “Creeping growth,” as one faculty member put it, is much worse than planned growth because the additional burdens sneak up on us. 

Conversation at the dinner clustered around three topics.  First and foremost was the fact that Carolina currently provides a high quality undergraduate education that avoids, to a large extent, the pitfalls of a large, impersonal school.  We have managed to keep the feel of a liberal arts college for many of our undergrads even as enrollments have increased.  Our students are very happy here and are receiving a superb education.  Maintaining faculty/student ratios, minimizing reliance on graduate student or adjunct instructors, and avoiding a geographically dispersed campus will be keys to retaining what makes UNC special.  

Second came various suggestions for ways to manage growth, and to provide a UNC education for more students. Current partnerships with community colleges offer one model for bringing students to campus only for their last two years of college.  Distance learning might be appropriate for certain subject areas, although there was also a strong sense that such courses were not an adequate substitute for the full residential college experience.  Going to an all year round academic calendar would be a way to maximize space and other resources.  No one underestimated the extent to which a substantial movement in any of these directions would significantly alter current practices at Carolina.

Finally, there were questions about the planning process.  Everyone agreed that conscious planning is needed, and faculty wondered where and how they would have input.  Are we going to simply have proportional growth—or does new growth provide an opportunity for targeted investment in specific academic areas?  Should such planning be done at the Provost level, or should the individual schools have some autonomy?  To what extent should UNC’s external constituencies be involved?  Are there connections to be made with other universities in the state system in order to devise a sensible plan for the whole state?  How would our planning for growth relate to the efforts of the UNC Tomorrow initiative?

Both the Trustees and the faculty who attended the dinner were pleased with the quality of the conversation and with the rare opportunity to share their thoughts in an extended conversation.  Plans for a second dinner are already in the works.