Roughly half of the savings would be achieved by cutting budgets and positions within UCOP. The other half would be achieved by moving certain academic and public service programs out of the UCOP organizational structure entirely and onto campuses or other locations where their functions would be more appropriately housed.
The reductions in 2008-09 at UCOP would amount to a cut of 404 full-time-equivalent positions and $52 million in spending from multiple fund sources. The proposal identifies additional likely savings from a voluntary employee severance program and from one-time unexpended funds that would take the total reduction to $56.7 million in 2008-09.
The restructuring effort is being led by Hume and Executive Vice President Katherine N. Lapp, who have convened a range of work teams to fundamentally re-examine what operations should be housed at UCOP and how they should be grouped in order to achieve maximum efficiency, improved communication and the most effective service to campuses.
"This budget for UCOP is a critical milestone in our effort to completely re-think the organization and functions of the Office of the President," Hume said. "Our work is not yet complete, but the savings proposed in this budget are dramatic, and they put us on an even faster track to achieving a leaner and more effective central administrative organization.
"The employees in the Office of the President are hard-working and dedicated to the cause of public higher education, and their work already saves the system in many areas where activities otherwise would be performed redundantly. What we need to provide is a better organizational structure that inspires confidence, focuses our work where we can provide greatest value to the system, and maximizes our ability to support the university's long-term priorities."
The contribution of savings from UCOP also will help as the university confronts the possibility of significant budget cuts due to a $16 billion state budget deficit.
"The current state budget situation calls upon all public institutions to make the most efficient possible use of taxpayer resources, and this budget for UCOP makes a substantial contribution by downsizing our central administration," said Lapp, executive vice president for business operations. "The budget also provides the university community and the public with a clearer window into the operations of UCOP. The budget is detailed, is transparent and represents a very significant step forward in our effort to streamline the UCOP organization."
UCOP is best known as the central administrative organization for the UC system and the entity which provides direct support to the president of the university.
However, UCOP today includes a wide variety of functions -- some of which directly support the president, some of which provide systemwide support services in areas where a coordinated approach among the campuses is valuable, and some of which fall into neither category but have ended up at UCOP for a variety of other reasons. Some teaching, research and public service activities that are non-administrative in nature are part of the current UCOP organization.
Excluding positions reporting to the Regents or Academic Senate and those in non-UCOP programs that receive "pass-through" funding through UCOP, the organization has 1,749 full-time-equivalent (FTE) employees. However, only about 20 percent -- or 350 FTE -- are involved in direct support of the UC president. The rest support a wide variety of important university services -- for instance, 197 FTE positions are part of the Continuing Education of the Bar program; another 100 FTE positions are part of the Education Abroad Program based in Santa Barbara; another 120 FTE positions perform benefits administration activities for UC retirees.
The savings proposed in the 2008-09 appropriations request for UCOP include the following:
• $25.4 million in savings is from program reductions at UCOP (179 FTE positions).
• $26.3 million in savings is from relocating functions that would be more logically housed outside UCOP (225 FTE positions - mostly Continuing Education of the Bar, President's Postdoctoral Fellowship Program and California Council on Science and Technology).
Those two categories of savings add up to $51.7 million, or 20 percent of current UCOP spending. In addition, two additional forms of savings are expected:
• $1.5 million in savings is conservatively expected from a voluntary employee separation program offered to UCOP employees.
• And another $3.5 million is expected from recapturing one-time unexpended funds.
The total proposed UCOP spending reduction in the 2008-09 fiscal year, from multiple fund sources, is therefore $56.7 million.
Because of attrition, hiring controls on vacant positions, the voluntary employee separation program and the effort to identify programs that are better located on campuses or other locations outside of UCOP, the savings thus far are being achieved with fewer than two dozen layoffs. Affected employees will be offered assistance with resume writing, interviewing, career development and other job search activities.
The restructuring process is not yet complete, and more savings are likely in 2009-10 once additional functions have been redefined, reorganized and in some cases relocated. Provost Hume expects to present the Regents with a revised overall organizational structure for UCOP at the board's May 2008 meeting. UCOP functions will continue to be reorganized over the course of the next year, with much of the work expected to be completed by March 2009.
UCOP headquarters are in Oakland. However, UCOP employees also work in Sacramento; in Washington, D.C.; in Santa Barbara as part of the Education Abroad Program; and elsewhere around the state as part of the Agriculture and Natural Resources division and other programs.
The full appropriations request for UCOP, as presented to the Board of Regents, is available on the Web at www.universityofcalifornia.edu/future/op_budget.html.