Berkeleyan

News Briefs

24 September 2008

Governor signs state budget; funding stays flat for UC system

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Tuesday signed a 2008-09 state budget that includes essentially flat state funding for the University of California system.

According to a statement from UC’s Office of the President (UCOP), the budget restores nearly $100 million that was proposed to be cut earlier in the budget process. However, because it does not provide funding increases for student-enrollment growth or inflation-based cost increases, the 10 UC campuses will still need to reduce expenditures by about $100 million through budget cuts and use of reserves in order to accommodate these rising costs.

The budget does not provide the normal state funding for employee-compensation increases. The administration and Board of Regents are looking at this issue as well as at health-insurance costs for 2009, and expect to clarify in the next few weeks what the final state budget dictates in terms of employee-compensation and benefits.

Draft accountability report issued by UC Office of the President

UC President Mark Yudof has issued a draft accountability report that represents the first effort to comprehensively assess, and present to the public, the UC system’s progress in meeting key teaching, research, and public-service goals across its 10 campuses. For the next several months, members of the public and the UC community are invited to read the draft report and provide suggestions for improvement. A final report, reflecting modifications from the draft, is expected to be issued next spring.

The draft report presents 102 measures of university performance, including measures of student success, access, and affordability; research impact and funding; faculty diversity and quality; and university finance. The data are presented in ways to highlight trends over time and, wherever possible, to compare UC’s performance with that of eight other U.S. research universities, to provide context.