<< Back 8/21/02 WCU enrollment growth expected to dampen impact of budget cuts SMN Growth in student enrollment for this fall at Western Carolina University and Western’s designation by The University of North Carolina system as a “focused growth institution” are expected to dampen the impact of probable state budget cuts. That was the word delivered during Western’s recent General Faculty Meeting by Chancellor John W. Bardo. While faculty members have done much in recent years to increase academic standards at Western, they must continue to emphasize scholastic excellence, Bardo said. And, he said, they must also turn attention to the next important step — planning for a new cycle of development at a university expected to expand by about 2,500 students by the year 2010, to an enrollment of around 9,500. “We grew significantly last year, and all indications are that we will grow significantly again this year. We will not know our final enrollment figures for two more weeks, but we will be up, and total enrollment could be the highest in the institution’s history,” Bardo said, noting that much of this year’s enrollment growth will be in off-campus graduate programs in Asheville and in distance education. “The state wants us to grow in our undergraduate programs, and there are serious expectations that we will,” he said. “At the same time, growth of our off-campus programs is important. It shows that we are truly trying to pay attention to the needs of the working people of Western North Carolina.” Because Western has been identified as one of the UNC campuses expected to grow dramatically over the next eight to 10 years (a designation known as a “focused growth institution”), and because the total number of students is moving upward, WCU may be able to avoid painful layoffs and major cutbacks in service, he said. In fact, university administrators hope to be able to use local tuition fees approved last academic year by the board of trustees to replace part-time faculty positions responsible for teaching many of Western’s freshman classes with full-time visiting lecturers. “As a focused growth institution, we are expected to increase the number of students in our current majors, make sure all our programs are of the highest quality, and take those actions necessary for us to achieve our enrollment targets,” Bardo said. “I hope you understand that we are able to make some of these moves because Western has begun to grow. Because the state funds nearly all academic operations of the university on enrollment, growth brings flexibility. Enrollment stagnation brings decline.” Bardo praised Western’s faculty and staff for doing what some said could not be done — simultaneously bringing in larger freshman classes while attracting students with higher academic credentials. While the university must continue efforts to attract more and better-prepared students, he said, it also must begin to examine some of the critical issues facing the institution as it addresses where do we go from here. Bardo shared with the faculty some of the suggestions he has received concerning possible new directions for the next cycle of the university’s development and new academic programs that may be built around them — mountain culture, mountain environment, expanding teacher education, sustainable economic diversification, and health and gerontology. Bardo will meet with small groups of faculty during the fall semester to examine those and other possible directions for the university’s future growth. “The knowledge explosion, high tech, economic globalization, multiculturalism and internationalism all have implications for how we develop. We must incorporate new programs if we are going to succeed, and more importantly, we must assure that our existing programs evolve to meet the current needs of the people,” Bardo said. “As we talk about academic quality, we must assure that our mix of programs is appropriate, that our standards are high, and that we are aware of long-term societal costs. An excellent university cannot become a museum, and its curriculum has to be more than an icon of a bygone era. In times of economic trouble, museums close and icons are relegated to the closet.”