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Report: Many U.S. universities are fat with administrators

The nation's universities have become bloated with administrators, and UNLV is rapidly catching up to them, according to a new report by a conservative think tank.

The state's higher education leaders don't see it that way.

The report, from the Gold­water Institute in Arizona, actually shows UNLV to be among the leanest universities in the country, UNLV President Neal Smatresk said.

Indeed, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas is ranked 19th out of 198 universities when it comes to the number of administrators per 100 students, the report says. UNLV went from having two administrators per 100 students in 1993 to 3.8 per 100 students in 2007. The national average was 6.8 in 1993 and 9.4 in 2007.

"We are at less than half the national average," Smatresk said.

The report has been touted by the conservative Nevada Policy Research Institute as an example of bloat in the state's universities.

The report used data reported to the federal government that measured employment, tuition, spending and other factors at the nation's universities from 1993 through 2007.

Patrick Gibbons, an education consultant and former education analyst with NPRI, said what is stunning is the report shows the number of administrators per 100 students at UNLV grew by 90 percent during those years.

He said it was true that UNLV had less administrative bloat than other universities, but that it was catching up rapidly.

"The fact is that 20 years ago, they had fewer administrators and got along just fine," he said.

Smatresk countered that UNLV is a different institution than it was in 1993, far larger and more research intensive.

He said the measuring period in the study "happens to be a 14-year span where the university experienced meteoric growth, moving from a small institution to a major research institution."

UNLV's enrollment went from 19,000 in 1993 to 28,000 in 2007.

Smatresk also said it is misleading to measure percentage changes. When the institution starts out small, a small increase in the overall number of administrators can look large when measured on a percentage basis.

Smatresk and state System of Higher Education Chancellor Dan Klaich also said there are several problems with the data in the report.

First, the definition of administrators is iffy at best, they said. It includes people such as reference librarians and academic counselors. Isn't it a good thing, they said, that UNLV has grown enough to offer more of these services to students?

Gibbons said it might not be. Graduation rates are still below 50 percent at the university, showing very little improvement over the years the study covers.

"If they're a different university, they're going in the wrong direction," he said.

Klaich and Smatresk also pointed out that the data only goes up to 2007, before the higher education system's budget began getting cut.

Smatresk has said the university spends about 25 percent of its budget on nonacademic areas -- administration is part of that -- but focused more than half the budget cuts in those areas to shield the classrooms from the cuts as much as possible. The result, he said, is that UNLV has even fewer administrative positions now per 100 students than it did three years ago when it was 19th leanest in the country.

"We're probably 10th by now," he said.

Gibbons acknowledged that the university has had to undergo cuts.

"I believe they are working in good faith to adjust to the reality they've been presented," he said.

Contact reporter Richard Lake at
rlake@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0307.

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