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Terrence MacTaggart
Universities Need to be More Competitive
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PEOPLE WITH IMPACT INTERVIEW - Terrence MacTaggart has been around the block in higher education, and has led and participated in a number of revitalization efforts for colleges in distress. His most recent book is titled Academic Turnarounds: Restoring Vitality to Challenged American Colleges and Universities. In this interview, Terrence shares his insights on the climate of higher education that is causing so many distressed schools, as well as the ensuing academic turnaround process that restores their vitality.
Q: What does a college in distress look like?
Terrence MacTaggart: There are two kinds of distress—one is serious, and the other is very serious! Serious distress characterizes institutions that are not going to go out of business—finances are okay, they have a reasonable endowment, and they can still attract a reasonable numbers of students. It is, however, drifting downward—they are dipping deeper into the applicant pool to enroll students to fill the first-year class, they find their fundraising apparatus is relatively stagnant or in decline, and the school has lost a sense of momentum or edge. This kind of distress is not overly serious, provided the president and the trustees act in time. The second kind of distress is more serious—the school is worried about making payroll or meeting their debt obligations, and it is struggling mightily to recruit enough students to keep their doors open. These schools in serious distress are experiencing what trustees describe as a ‘culture of crisis,’ where the school is perennially on the mired of crisis.
Q: Your recently published book, titled Academic Turnarounds: Restoring Vitality to Challenged American Colleges and Universities, offers an in-depth look at a number of colleges in distress and their eventual restoration of prosperity. How did the idea for the book come about, and what results emerged from your investigation?
Terrence MacTaggart: Several colleagues and I were curious and puzzled as to why some institutions were able to turn themselves around while other constantly seemed to be on the brink of disaster. Over a four-year period, we looked in-depth at about 40 schools, both public and private, that had gone through the “turnaround experience.” We discovered that very often, a three-stage pattern emerged in the turnaround. Turnarounds usually started with a financial makeover—getting the budget in order, handling debts, and sometimes even downsizing the costs of the institution. The second step of the turnaround pattern was intensive marketing and branding efforts to portray the institution as a high-quality place worthy of students’ time and money. Many schools were content to relax at this stage—thinking they are immediately out of the woods—and only a small number of institutions went on to the third stage of academic revitalization. At this stage, schools go through an incredibly thorough internal re-evaluation and adjustment of the entire teaching/learning process and culture at their institution. Not every turnaround went through each of these stages, but a remarkable number need to.
Q: Is there any correlation between the rise of the for-profit institution and the number of not-for-profit schools that are in a distressed state?
Terrence MacTaggart: I don’t think for-profits have much impact on the schools we looked at. In most cases, for-profits are not causing colleges to go into distressed states. Rather, it is the inability of not-for-profits to be realistic about what the market has to offer and how they are responding to that demand. For-profit institutions serve an important need on the higher education scene, otherwise they wouldn’t be growing and prospering like they are. I’ve found that the quality of these institutions is typically fine, and they offer important choices to students. There are plenty of people out there nationally, and millions more around the world, who need higher education, personal development, or career training—there is plenty of demand. Every institution needs to strategize how it can best meet student expectations and market demand.
Terrence MacTaggart has served as Chancellor of the University of Maine System and the Minnesota State University System. He led and participated in college turnarounds at both Webster University and the University of Wisconsin, Superior, and has served as a consultant to various public and private institutions in distress. Terrence’s most recent book is titled Academic Turnarounds: Restoring Vitality to Challenged American Colleges and Universities (Praeger Publishers, 2007).
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