[EAS]Funding Academic IT

[pjk]

Subject:   Funding Academic IT

(from Edupage, February 28, 2001)

AUTHOR SAYS COLLEGES MUST REALLOCATE MONEY TO ACADEMIC TECHNOLOGY
Professor A.W. Bates, the director of distance education and
technology in the Continuing Studies Division at the University
of British Columbia, recently published a book called "Managing
Technology Change: Strategies for College and University Leaders"
that discusses reallocating educational funds toward academic
technology. In a recent interview, he elaborates his thoughts on
the cost benefits of using the Internet in colleges and
universities. He says technology will be hard to implement, in
terms of funding as well as training. While the issue of
adjusting to technology may remain, Bates argues that if
universities can manage to reserve from one to two percent of
their budgets for technology, it will provide many indirect
benefits. For example, because many universities are hit hard
with general overhead costs for maintaining classrooms and campus
facilities such as parking, these costs could be partially
eliminated if some courses or parts of courses were held online.
Additionally, the Internet may even become a source of extra
revenue if schools can market their expertise in a certain field
to a global audience through specialized distance-learning
classes. The cost effectiveness, he says, would be far greater
than if that institution offered the class only in its own locale.
(Chronicle of Higher Education Online, 27 February 2001)

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