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September
5, 2002 Study Shows 34% Increase in Administrative
Staff at Public Universities since 1993 CHICAGO - In the first ever comparative review of teaching and administrative staff levels at public Universities in the State of Illinois, a study released by University Professionals of Illinois, Local 4100 revealed that administrative staff levels and budget expenditures between FY 1993 and FY 2003 have grown far faster than they have for teaching staff. Of particular concern to students and parents, the ratio of students to administrators increased nearly 6 times faster than the student to teacher ratio. Sue Kaufman, president of UPI, called for universities to take a look at their priorities anew: "The priority of the universities should be to increase teaching resources to better serve our students. The universities need to put greater focus on this in the next 10 years." University priorities are a continuing concern to the close to 3,000 faculty and staff in the seven public universities UPI represents, Kaufman said. "This study was designed to assess the effect on university priorities in hiring and resource allocation in light of SJR 141. This was a 1992 General Assembly resolution we backed that called for a cutback on administrative waste and a greater emphasis on classroom instruction." The report released by UPI today is based on a review of budgets submitted by Governor Edgar for FY1993 and Governor Ryan for FY 2003, and was prepared by the Chicago based Center on Work and Community Development. The study shows that the public university system in Illinois has failed to heed the state legislatureÕs 1992 directive. Between FY 1993 and FY 2003, administrative positions increased at nearly 10 times the rate teaching positions did. The stateÕs University system hired 900 more administrators than teachers in that period. The increase in administrative staff has also been reflected in budget allocations. Between FY 1993 and FY 2003, after adjusting for inflation, the administrative increase was nearly 49% compared to a 27% increase in the teaching budget. "If the University system had heeded the LegislatureÕs mandate, we could have eased the impact of the present budget crisis in IllinoisÕ higher education system and avoided some tuition increases and program cuts. We need to bring our focus back to teaching students," said John Murphy, UPI vice president. The study estimated that the universities would have had an additional $75 million available if the ratio of administrative staff to teachers had remained constant from 1993 to 2003. "Cuts in administrative positions beginning in 1993 would have produced additional savings, not only this year, but of course in each of the subsequent years," said Robert Ginsburg, Ph.D., director of the Center on Work and Community Development and author of the report. "This study is designed not just to make an academic argument from hindsight, but to demonstrate clearly where the universities need to go in the decade ahead," Kaufman said. *** |
