Post by title1parent on Jun 23, 2010 5:07:28 GMT -5
www.suntimes.com/news/education/2422342,CST-NWS-uofi23.article
U. of I. finds ways to save $60 million on supplies, services
June 23, 2010
BY DAVE McKINNEY Sun-Times Springfield Bureau Chief
SPRINGFIELD -- Facing a $330 million IOU from the state, the University of Illinois could save nearly $60 million over three years through a series of belt-tightening moves, a university panel announced Tuesday.
The panel formed in November by interim President Stanley O. Ikenberry proposed 43 cost- cutting steps that await approval by the university's administration and board of trustees.
The group did not indicate whether or how many people might lose their jobs under the recommendations, which offer the most savings by changing how the university buys supplies and streamlining its information technology spending.
In those two areas, the panel estimated nearly $40 million in savings.
The U. of I., for example, spends $300 million a year on supplies and services.
But only a small fraction of that purchasing is done through university-wide contracts.
It could save $22 million by "leveraging its large buying power," the group's report concluded.
The task force also recommended paring down the 14 vice chancellors assigned to the university's campuses in Chicago, Urbana-Champaign and Springfield, though they did not say by how much.
"The real challenge is one of execution," Ikenberry said in a prepared statement. "Good ideas and recommendations are useless sitting on the shelf. Change will not occur overnight, but it must occur promptly."
U. of I. finds ways to save $60 million on supplies, services
June 23, 2010
BY DAVE McKINNEY Sun-Times Springfield Bureau Chief
SPRINGFIELD -- Facing a $330 million IOU from the state, the University of Illinois could save nearly $60 million over three years through a series of belt-tightening moves, a university panel announced Tuesday.
The panel formed in November by interim President Stanley O. Ikenberry proposed 43 cost- cutting steps that await approval by the university's administration and board of trustees.
The group did not indicate whether or how many people might lose their jobs under the recommendations, which offer the most savings by changing how the university buys supplies and streamlining its information technology spending.
In those two areas, the panel estimated nearly $40 million in savings.
The U. of I., for example, spends $300 million a year on supplies and services.
But only a small fraction of that purchasing is done through university-wide contracts.
It could save $22 million by "leveraging its large buying power," the group's report concluded.
The task force also recommended paring down the 14 vice chancellors assigned to the university's campuses in Chicago, Urbana-Champaign and Springfield, though they did not say by how much.
"The real challenge is one of execution," Ikenberry said in a prepared statement. "Good ideas and recommendations are useless sitting on the shelf. Change will not occur overnight, but it must occur promptly."