Building Our Academic Core

The key to our strength, and our value to the people we serve, is the quality of the faculty, staff and students at our campuses. To maintain that quality, we must:

• Strengthen our UC-wide academic planning to better guide how we will invest in the people, facilities and innovative programs that will enhance each campus’ unique academic profile and ensure our system’s continued global competitiveness. A new academic planning process, launched in 2006, has already shown progress with health sciences enrollment and IT planning, and with deepening campuses’ understanding of each other. We also have focused on developing a long-range enrollment plan and on new ways to support graduate students and research collaboration among campuses, along with other priorities.

Visit the Systemwide Academic Planning website for details.

• Create an open budget process – transparent and accountable to the UC community and to the public – that ensures our academic priorities drive the development of our capital and operational budgets. This includes:
• Restoring faculty salary scales to competitiveness, with a system of rigorous performance review linked to compensation;
• Ensuring staff salaries remain equitable and competitive at all levels;
• Projecting longer-run physical planning and deferred maintenance needs and their financial implications.

What’s next?

An open budget process was put into place and presented to Regents last November. The first-phase consultation process for the 2009-10 budget has begun and will move to development of budget priorities through the spring.

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What other issues should we consider?