Thursday, July 29, 2010

Books - Mission Creep - Administrative Glut - NYTimes.com

Books - Mission Creep - Administrative Glut - NYTimes.com
In 1976, for every 1,000 full-time students, there were 42 professional administrative staff members, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. By 2008, the most recent year available, there were 84. At the same time, the number of full-time faculty members for every 1,000 students has declined, from 65 to 55, due to the greater use of adjuncts and teaching assistants.

While fewer undergraduates are being taught by full-time professors, the number of administrators keeps growing.

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So say political scientist Andrew Hacker and Claudia Dreifus. And they are right.

2 comments:

Evan McKenzie said...

This country is drowning in managers and administrators of all types, private and public, many of them doing things that don't need to be done at all. In other cases they are doing things that people should be doing for themselves. I realize that large HOAs and big condo buildings generally need professional management, but I hear all kinds of stories about excessive fees and relentless over-management.

And when it comes time to fire people, it is the bottom of the administrative pyramid that gets cut. Those are the people who actually deliver services. The cuts should be made in the middle and at the top.

Anonymous said...

Today's xkcd comic seems somewhat relevant.

http://xkcd.com/773/