It sounds like an
obesity epidemic in higher education: program bloat. …The phrase refers to the hundreds of degree
programs at California's public universities with fewer than 10 graduates in a
given year … A new study out Sunday from the American Council of Trustees and
Alumni calls on the universities to eliminate low-enrollment programs or offer
them jointly across campuses or online for efficiency…
Last year, the
University of California had 792 programs with fewer than 10 students receiving
a bachelor's, master's or doctoral degree, according to the report… For
example, five of UC's 10 campuses graduated a total of 14 undergraduates in
"geophysics and seismology" last year. At UC Berkeley, six students
got a master's in anthropology. Four got a master's in German studies…
The ACTA has a general advisory report for all universities
warning against “curriculum creep” at http://www.goacta.org/publications/downloads/AcademicPriorities.pdf
The specific report to which the article above refers is titled
"Best Laid Plans: The Unfulfilled Promise of Public Higher Education in
California." Although the article
says this report is on the ACTA website, yours truly could not find it there using the
ACTA search option. A Google search also
failed to find it. There is a link in
the Chronicle article to U.S. data on programs and majors by
university. For example, UCLA’s info is
at http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?s=CA&l=5&ct=1&ic=1&pg=2&id=110662#programs
Anyway, there must be a remedy for bloat:
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