UC Facilities Manual
Academic and Enrollment Planning
Volume 2, Chapter 1
INTRODUCTION
Academic and enrollment planning are part of the University's total facilities planning program. Academic and enrollment plans are used to assess priorities and to help justify projects. Ideally, capital improvement projects are the result of comprehensive and coordinated Facility planning academic, physical, and resource that includes an analysis of the effectiveness of existing space. Each Facility is responsible for maintaining a balanced Capital Improvement Program that takes into consideration growth, renewal, improvement, infrastructure, environmental impact, and life safety.
1.1 ACADEMIC PLANNING
A Facility academic plan is used to evaluate academic programs as well as auxiliary enterprises, business operations, and libraries. The academic plan sets academic goals for general, professional, and health sciences instruction and organized research units (ORUs). The academic goals form the framework for program and physical planning.
1.1.1 Academic Program Approval
Each Facility's academic programs are approved by the Academic Senate, Office of the President, and the California Post-Secondary Education Commission (CPEC).
1.1.2 Design and Planning Issues
Academic Programs. A Facility must consider which academic programs are to be initiated, terminated, consolidated, or relocated. Student enrollments, the number of faculty and staff, the types of degrees offered, and program time frames all impact a project's design and planning. Teaching methods (small seminars versus large lectures), research needs, and supporting utilities and technologies also must be appraised before a project begins.
Facilities. Program, design, and planning issues affect the size of a structure and its construction, renovation, or demolition. An academic program's impact on existing space must be evaluated.
1.2 ENROLLMENT PLANNING
References:
-
The Donahoe Higher Education Act of 1960.
A master plan for the development of higher education in California called the Donahoe Higher Education Act of 1960 (The Master Plan), assigned the University three functions: to provide undergraduate education, to provide graduate education through the doctorate level, and to serve as the primary state-supported academic agency for research. A citizens' commission and the Legislative Joint Committee for Review of the Master Plan for Higher Education reviewed The Master Plan in March 1985. Subsequently, the Legislature approved, and the Governor signed, legislation that reaffirmed the University's mission of teaching, research, and public service.
Ideally, the University is to accommodate all qualified undergraduates and graduate and professional students within standards of excellence, societal need, and available resources. To do this, the University must maintain a core of well-balanced, quality programs and also support emerging fields. The Master Plan specifies that the University must select students from the top 12.5 percent of public high school graduates. Admission standards are set accordingly.
Once the annual State Budget Act is signed or once University enrollment issues are resolved with the state, the Office of the President gives Facilities budgeted enrollments for the coming budget year and projected enrollment numbers for a future date. These projections and enrollment distributions are the result of decisions made among the Chancellors and the offices of Academic Affairs and Budget at the Office of the President. The process consists of determining the ratio of undergraduate and graduate students. Projected enrollment for future years must be consistent with The Regents' approved enrollment targets for each campus. These are published in each campus long-range development plan (LRDP). Enrollment distribution within a campus is a campus decision.
1.2.1 Undergraduate Enrollment
Undergraduate enrollment projections take into account demographic factors such as birth rates and kindergarten through twelfth-grade enrollments. These projections also include assessments of enrollment potential, for example, estimates of the number of students eligible for the University, the proportion who will enroll, and expected improvement in eligibility for under-represented minority groups.
1.2.2 Graduate Enrollment
Graduate enrollment growth is based on the University's graduate enrollment planning report. The University incorporates data from new national studies in its graduate enrollment projections. Information about future national needs to replace doctoral degree holders retiring from academic and nonacademic employment, expectations of undergraduate enrollment growth, and research and development growth in the private economy are all included in this report.
1.2.3 Health Sciences Enrollment
Under The Master Plan, the University has a responsibility to develop basic knowledge in the health sciences and to train students as investigators and teachers. Located on six University campuses are 14 schools providing education in the health fields: five of medicine, two of dentistry, two of nursing, two of public health, one of optometry, one of pharmacy, and one of veterinary medicine. State and federal fund sources determine health science enrollments.