Core principles will guide the budget-planning process

05 February 2003 |

The Executive Budget Steering Committee has adopted a set of operating principles to guide the FY2004 budget planning process within the context of “the institutional values that make Berkeley both great and unique.”

Those values include: the integration and synergy of education and research; a comprehensive foundation in the liberal arts; a passion for inquiry and discovery; the synergy of academic and professional programs; a vital and diverse community; the value of contiguity; a partnership of students, faculty and staff; independence of mind in the pursuit of knowledge; the primacy of public service; and excellence in every endeavor.

The budget-planning process will:

• sustain and enhance the excellence of Berkeley’s academic and professional programs as the top priority [and], consistent with a presumed full funding of enrollment growth, maintain the long-term campus student-faculty ratio target at approximately 18.7:1;

• articulate and implement a transparent process for making budget decisions;

• implement budgetary decisions with full consultation with appropriate Senate, staff, and student representatives;

• base strategic decisions on data, analysis, and evaluation, thereby resisting reactive, short-term, and crisis-driven decisions;

• delegate decisions to the lowest practical operational level, striking a balance between flexibility and control, responsibility, and authority;

• leverage improved and streamlined processes, organizational restructuring, and more effective use of information technology to maintain and improve the quality of administrative support and student services;

• avoid reductions in support of extramurally funded programs — to the extent that they do not require state or mandated student fee (e.g., registration fee) fund expenditures;

• seek new sources of revenue to mitigate necessary reductions;

• minimize layoffs;

• communicate information and decisions in a clear, concise, and timely manner to all segments of the campus community (faculty, staff, students, alumni, and friends).