Public University Systems: Leveraging Scale in Higher Education

How can public university systems leverage their scale to increase intercampus collaboration and better educational outcomes?

American public higher education systems include the largest and most impactful colleges and universities in the nation, including 75 percent of the nation's public sector students. While their impact is enormous, they are largely neglected as an area of study and underutilized as an instrument for the improvement of postsecondary outcomes. Meanwhile, most states continue to struggle to reach their goals for higher education attainment, social and economic mobility, workforce development, equitable access and affordability, technological innovation, and human and environmental health.

Through a series of essays written by academic experts and senior practitioners, Public University Systems argues that higher education can act as a powerful tool for making progress on societal goals by leveraging their unique scale. These systems can increase intercampus collaboration in areas such as academic programs, collective bargaining, accreditation, student finance, governance, process improvement, change management, voluntary coalitions, and leadership. By shedding light on their unique ability to leverage scale, contributors argue that these systems merit more attention from scholars and increased use by policymakers, board members, and system leaders seeking to achieve real progress toward state and national higher education goals.

Covering the structure and function of university systems, new models, and methods for leading these systems, these essays provide a blueprint for how higher education leaders can leverage the scale of these enormous systems to achieve their missions and improve outcomes for their schools and students.

Contributors: George Blumenthal, Wallace Boston, Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld, Tristan Denley, Robert C. Dickeson, Peter T. Ewell, Pamela Felder-Small, Darren Greeno, Mark Hagerott, Ronald Heifetz, Dennis Jones, Daniel J. Julius, Jasmine Kaduthodil, Jason Lane, Paul Lingenfelter, Rebecca Martin, Aims McGuinness, Demarée K. Michelau, Steven Jude Patin, Kevin P. Reilly, Jessica Schueller, Khaleel Seecharan, Allison M. Vaillancourt, Nancy L. Zimpher

James R. Johnsen is an affiliate faculty at the Center for Studies in Higher Education at the University of California, Berkeley and Vice President of Executive Search at Greenwood Asher and Associates. He serves on advisory boards at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Pennsylvania. He was formerly a senior fellow at the National Association of System Heads and the president of the University of Alaska System.