Public University Excellence: CUNY

Challenge:

Following an extensive administrative audit performed with an outside partner, the City University of New York (CUNY) identified opportunities to enhance its academic and administrative efficiency and effectiveness. With the goal of unleashing $75 million in cumulative savings, CUNY launched the Efficiencies for Re-Investment & Innovation (ERI) initiative, and selected ISLG as a strategic partner with expertise in the operational challenges and opportunities of a large institution.

Approach:

With a value-oriented approach, ISLG undertook a comprehensive assessment of processes within key CUNY functional areas—HR, IT, Procurement, Enrollment Management, Academics, and Finance—to identify opportunities for quality improvements, savings, and efficiency gains. From that assessment, up to 15 short- and long-term initiatives were developed to achieve savings in both productivity, through time savings from automation of manual processes, and retention, via projects that increase university-wide enrollment. The initiatives fall into both administrative and academic operations categories.

Administrative projects identified as opportunities include:

• Modernization of manual processes in the Registrar’s Office with a systems approach that applies automation where possible

• A strategic procurement plan that consolidates CUNY-wide purchases through an online marketplace and a contract management system, yielding $20 million in savings through volume discounts

• Implementation of a program to capture attrition and redeployment savings from productivity initiatives

Academic projects identified as opportunities include:

• A roadmap for providing a streamlined transfer experience to and from CUNY—a key opportunity to make students’ transfer journeys successful, attract matriculating students, and retain tuition

• Strategies to automate the information system supporting adult and continuing education (ACE), in order to streamline ACE programming and costs across the system and build efficiencies into this CUNY profit center

• Implementation of enrollment management and financial aid savings initiatives

These projects were presented to CUNY leadership for prioritization, and with a change in leadership during the partnership with ISLG, new collaboration was forged and the new administration identified those projects that most immediately fit with their strategic goals for the university.

Progress:

With a streamlined transfer process identified by the new administration as a strategic priority, ISLG worked with CUNY to develop a transfer credit dashboard, which will soon go live on the CUNY website. The dashboard will help students evaluate their transfer options holistically by understanding how credits transfer within CUNY’s two- and four-year schools, which courses are most likely to transfer smoothly, and which colleges and universities accept the most credits. We have strengthened the dashboard with the implementation of a Transfer Hub on CUNY’s website, replete with tips to guide transfer students smoothly through their transfer journey. Currently, we are working with CUNY to create KPIs to measure the success of the dashboard and hub in supporting transfers and increasing enrollment.

ISLG is now working with stakeholders within CUNY’s central administration and campuses to create a framework to capture realized savings as each project is implemented. As an ongoing, strategic partner, we are working to identify the next phase of projects to help CUNY realize efficiencies and savings, including potential projects in the university’s capital and public safety programs. Additionally, we have and will continue to support CUNY special projects as identified, including mobilizing to create detailed reopening guidelines in response to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

For more information on the CUNY project, please contact Linda Kleinbaum at Linda.Kleinbaum@islg.cuny.edu.