The International Business School, the Heller School for Social Policy and Management and the Rabb School for Continuing Studies all plan to raise their enrollments over the next five years in order to increase their revenue and direct contributions to the University's overall budget, the directors of the school said at last Thursday's faculty meeting. Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Apfel explained at the meeting that the three schools contributed to the University's overall budget through a Responsibility Center Management model. Under that model, an institution does not just just manage its finances centrally but also gives some discretion to its subunits regarding the allocation of financial resources and then negotiates with them about how the subunits can contribute back to the central organization.

By fiscal 2015, the Heller School plans to increase its enrollment by 26 percent from 476 to 546, mainly in the master's programs, Dean of the Heller School Lisa Lynch said at the meeting when presenting the school's preliminary plans. This will go hand-in-hand with a necessary increase of four faculty members in order to maintain a higher student/faculty ratio of 25-to-1, up from 21-to-1 in 2007. She explained that 40 percent of faculty compensation at Heller comes from outside funding through sponsored research. Lynch noted that the addition of faculty was necessary because she had "significant concerns with the current average class size about our ability to deliver a quality education." Lynch continued, "we will need to think about how we deliver our classroom experience to make sure that the quality is there even as our size is up."

She said that while the Heller School's growth in terms of enrollment and academics was beneficial to the University financially, the school's academic vision was the main force behind the Heller School's future plans. She added that the growth of the Heller School was the continuation of a process that began with the construction of the Schneider building in 2006. Lynch also said that she has asked the directors of Heller academic programs and Heller centers and institutes to develop five-year strategic plans for themselves.

Rebalancing enrollments in different programs would be part of the school's growth, she said. For example, this past year, enrollment in the master's Program in Sustainable International Development had been higher than the school had initially been able to accommodate, meaning that in the future, the SID program would be smaller while the school looks to grow a newer master's degree in Public Policy.

Enrollment in the Heller School has already increased in the past decade, with the average class size increasing from 17 in 2005 to 26 this year. In addition, Heller receives a large portion of funding from sponsored research, particularly in the form of indirect cost recovery funding from the government that compensates institutions for supporting research. The growth in tuition revenue resulting from a sharp increase in demand for masters' programs and the increased indirect cost of recovery funding have played key roles with regard to Heller's ability to respond to the University's financial crisis, she wrote in an e-mail.

Under the Heller School's preliminary projection, tuition revenue would increase from $7 million this year to $10 million by fiscal year 2015, and the direct contribution to the University's budget would increase from $2.4 million this year to $3.6 million. Lynch wrote that some of that tuition revenue would go to providing additional support in student and career services.

She noted that Heller had already responded to the financial crisis by working with donors in cooperation with the Development Office to move funds from the endowment to current use or soliciting additional gifts.

Going forward, she said, risks to the school's future plans could be a decrease in enrollments due to improving economic conditions and possible decreases in government-sponsored research or the payout from the endowment. Beneficial impact on the school's plans could come from an increase in government funding, the implementation of new offerings in executive education or the creation of distance learning options for health professionals.

The IBS intends to increase its enrollment from this year's figure of 394 to between 450 and 500 over the next five years, IBS dean Bruce Magid said at the meeting. For this year, the IBS is projecting a contribution of $2.2 million that would rise to between $3.6 million and $4.1 million over the next five years. Magid added that while the IBS currently serves between 90 and 100 business minors a year in 18 classes, IBS would soon be responsible for about 400 students and an additional 16 classes as part of the new Business major.

He cautioned, however, that "the constraint is going to be our ability to find faculty .our ability to find the faculty we need from the caliber that we need from a research perspective but who are also willing to take on very heavy teaching loads." The reason the IBS ranks highly, he added, is because students highly rate the accessibility of the faculty. With four senior faculty, he said, it would be hard to interview and mentor a large number of new faculty. In addition, he stated the IBS could not hire a large number of adjunct professors without hurting its accreditation. Magid wrote in an e-mail that additional tuition revenue would enable IBS to hire new faculty and contribute to the University's budget.

Another issue, he said, is that "the facility that we have was not built for this number of students," noting that the school needs to schedule classes from early in the morning to late at night in order to accommodate students. With limited office space, one recent hire received space in a refurbished custodian's closet. He added in an e-mail that the school would also consider holding classes in other spaces on campus.

Magid noted that the IBS had already responded to the financial crisis last year by cutting non personnel expenses by 11 percent and putting faculty searches on hold.

For future growth, Magid said the IBS was looking at offering an accelerated version of a master's program and more BA/MA options.

Vice Provost for Academic Affairs Michaele Whelan discussed plans for growth at the Rabb School, which includes the Graduate School of Professional Studies, Summer School and the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.

The school's direct contribution is about $1.9 million, Whelan said, with a projected annual growth of $100,000. She said she could not say exactly how much enrollment would increase, because unlike students in the other schools, students in GPS could try out one or two semesters before declaring their degree.

The GPS is exploring partnering with an external company that has expertise in marketing to develop new revenue-generating programs, she said. The company helps market and grow an existing online degree in exchange for a percentage of tuition revenue as a pilot program, she explained in an interview with the Justice.

She said that the Summer School is piloting a summer program focused on social justice and is offering new midyear students the opportunity to take science classes over the summer.

BOLLI has developed a new teaching partnership between third-year graduate students in Arts and Sciences and a residential community for the elderly called Newbridge that is part of Hebrew Senior Life. For a stipend, the students have been teaching courses on American humor, the Middle East and music. In addition, the residents can receive a membership to attend events at Brandeis.