Chapter 4: Criterion Two
The institution has effectively organized the human,
financial, and
physical resources necessary to accomplish its purposes.
Administration and Governance
BOR-Established Peer Group
The Board of Regents has established a group of peer institutions for each campus in the University of Nebraska system. The Board uses peer comparisons to judge the adequacy of faculty salaries, with the goal to reach comparability in faculty salaries with the peer institutions. UNK also uses peer institutions for several internal analyses, including benchmarking revenues, expenditures, and tuition rates. This chapter makes comparisons to this peer group in several sections.
Since institutions differ in size, programs offered, and some internal accounting practices, peer comparisons are not a perfect measure. They do provide, however, some basis for comparison. The following list identifies those institutions selected by the Board of Regents as UNK's peers. It also provides headcount and full-time equivalent (FTE) enrollments for these institutions in the fall of 2002. The FTE enrollment equals full-time headcount plus one-third of part-time headcount.
| Institution | Headcount | FTE |
| Minnesota State University - Moorhead | 7,431 | 6,793 |
| University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point | 8,885 | 8,122 |
| University of Northern Iowa | 14,167 | 12,370 |
| Central Missouri State University | 10,313 | 8,503 |
| Western Illinois University | 13,461 | 11,509 |
| University of Northern Colorado | 12,434 | 11,009 |
| Northern Michigan University | 9,016 | 7,897 |
| Murray State University (Kentucky) | 9,915 | 8,206 |
| Sam Houston State University (Texas) | 13,091 | 10,865 |
| University of Central Arkansas | 8,552 | 7,879 |
| Peer Average | 10,757 | 9,315 |
| UNK | 6,395 | 5,445 |
Strengths
- The University governance system effectively governs four campuses as parts of one university.
- Administration and governance permitted a smooth transition for UNK from the State College to the University system.
- Although there has been moderate turnover in senior leadership, UNK has maintained stability in programs and services.
- The Staff Senate has developed into an effective voice for staff.
- The relationship between the collective bargaining unit and the administration has been a constructive and non-confrontational one.
Concerns
- Recent organizational changes in administration have been driven primarily by the need to cut the budget. Consequently, as administrations' span of control broadens, the risk of problems stemming from less intensive oversight grows.
- There is still some uncertainty about the role of the Coordinating Commission for Postsecondary Education relative to that of the Board of Regents, and some concern that the Coordinating Commission could make decisions contrary to the best interests of the University.
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