Charting the Year Ahead
Over the past several months, I have spoken candidly about the headwinds facing higher education nationally and here in North Dakota: demographic shifts and enrollment pressures, increasing scrutiny around the value and productivity of academic programs, evolving workforce needs, and growing conversations about funding, efficiency, and program consolidation.
This edition of Behind the Numbers focuses on NDSU’s Academic Portfolio Review process and the broader context shaping that work. The goal is to provide transparency around why these conversations are happening now, how the university is approaching them, and what principles are guiding the work ahead.
Across the country, states are increasingly evaluating academic programs through degree production metrics. During this spring’s listening sessions, I referenced examples such as Indiana and Texas, where low-producing programs are now subject to heightened review, consolidation, or elimination based largely on degree completion thresholds.
As expected, those conversations have now arrived in North Dakota. The State Board of Higher Education is currently reviewing a proposed policy that would identify programs as low-producing based on five-year completion thresholds: fewer than ten undergraduate degrees or fewer than five graduate degrees. Importantly, the proposal does not mandate automatic closure. Programs identified through the process would undergo further evaluation at the department and college level, with the opportunity to adapt.
Rather than waiting for external decisions to define our future, NDSU is taking a proactive approach to evaluating our academic portfolio, aligning resources, and identifying opportunities for future growth and impact. This work has been supported through ongoing collaboration among university leadership, including Interim President Rick Berg, incoming President Marshall Stewart, the deans, and feedback shared throughout the listening sessions.
Academic Portfolio Review
Over the last several weeks, each academic college has been conducting a comprehensive review of its academic program portfolio. These reviews are being led locally by deans with the encouragement to include those with the deepest knowledge of their programs and the context needed to evaluate them thoughtfully.
Degree completion counts are increasingly becoming the primary lens used in state-level conversations because they are simple, comparable, and easy to measure. However, degree completions alone fail to capture the full value academic programs provide to the university and the state.
NDSU’s programs generate the student credit hours that drive institutional appropriations under North Dakota’s funding formula. They produce research that attracts federal investment and advances innovation across the state. They support extension and engagement efforts that connect university expertise to North Dakota communities and industries.
Programs also contribute in ways that are harder to quantify, but no less essential. They foster critical thinking, communication, creativity, and cultural understanding while enriching communities through the arts, humanities, and public engagement. Employers consistently identify these transferable skills as critical to long-term workforce success.
The illustrative profile below, a composite rather than an actual NDSU program, demonstrates what a small but highly contributing program can look like when viewed through a broader institutional lens.
Category |
Metric |
Illustrative Value |
|---|---|---|
|
Enrollment & Demand
|
Total majors |
25 |
|
New first-year students |
5 |
|
|
New transfer students |
3 |
|
|
Instructional Output
|
Total student credit hours produced |
2,100 |
|
Degrees awarded (5-year total) |
8 |
|
|
Sections below minimum enrollment |
18% |
|
|
Workforce Capacity
|
Faculty headcount |
3 |
|
Staff headcount |
1 |
|
|
Student-to-faculty ratio |
8:1 |
|
|
SCH per faculty line |
700 |
|
|
Student Success
|
Fall-to-fall retention |
86% |
|
Four-year graduation rate |
65% |
|
|
Research & External |
Annual grant expenditures |
$285,000 |
A program with this profile would trigger a self-study at both NDSU’s threshold and the state’s proposed threshold. The graduate count is what prompts the review. The broader indicators are what help inform what comes next.
Programs that fall below NDSU’s self-study threshold are flagged for further review. Notably, NDSU’s threshold for undergraduate programs is already somewhat higher than the state’s proposed floor, meaning contextual evaluation is already underway before a program would formally be identified as low-producing under proposed state policy.
Review Trigger |
SBHE Proposed Threshold |
NDSU Self-Study Threshold |
|---|---|---|
|
Undergraduate degree completions (5-year total) |
Fewer than 10 |
Fewer than 15 |
|
Graduate degree completions (5-year total) |
Fewer than 5 |
Fewer than 5 |
Each self-study will be conducted by the department offering the program, placing context, consequences, and the implications of potential changes in the hands of the people closest to the work.
Importantly, this process is not solely about identifying what may need to change. It is also about identifying where we should grow, where new opportunities exist, and how we continue preparing students for a rapidly evolving world.
Our graduates are entering careers being reshaped by emerging technologies, shifting industries, and new models of work. Some of the jobs today’s students will hold a decade from now do not yet fully exist. That reality requires us to think creatively and boldly about the future: what new programs should emerge, what interdisciplinary opportunities we should build, what workforce needs North Dakota will face, and how NDSU can continue leading as the state’s land-grant research university.
At the same time, we must acknowledge that universities cannot continue adding programs, initiatives, and priorities indefinitely without also evaluating what has changed around us. Workforce demands, technology, student interests, and institutional priorities continue to evolve. Some programs may warrant renewed investment and expansion. Others may need to be reimagined, consolidated, or discontinued so we can focus our efforts where they will have the greatest impact for students and the state.
That is not a sign of decline. It is part of responsible stewardship and strategic leadership.
The Academic Portfolio Review process is only one part of a broader set of conversations underway about NDSU’s future. In the months ahead, we will also engage in discussions regarding strategic hiring priorities, operational efficiency, and long-term institutional planning.
Those conversations will involve important decisions, but they will also create opportunities to strengthen areas of growth, support emerging workforce needs, and position NDSU for long-term success as North Dakota’s land-grant research university.
Throughout the summer, I will continue working closely with the deans, incoming President Marshall Stewart, and senior leaders across the university to establish shared expectations and priorities for the next phase of this work so that when faculty return in the fall, we are prepared to engage in thoughtful, collaborative conversations about the future direction of NDSU.
This work is not about reducing NDSU’s ambitions. It is about ensuring we are positioned to fulfill them for decades to come.
The challenges facing higher education are real, but so are the opportunities ahead. By engaging thoughtfully and proactively now, we can come together collaboratively in the fall to shape a future that continues to expand opportunity for students, strengthen research and innovation, and serve the people and communities of North Dakota.