New Virtual U

Virtual U Manual: Appendix A

The Scenario Descriptions and Welcome Letters

What follows are the letters you will see after a particular scenario is selected. Because Virtual U is based upon a dynamic model, some of the numbers and statements you see in the following descriptions will be different from those you see on the screen. However, the general content remains the same.

Scenario 1 -- Pay Better

Below market faculty salaries risk the erosion of morale and effectiveness and, eventually, the departure of key professors. Your challenge will be to increase salaries to match those at competing institutions without harming other aspects of University performance. You will be judged on the speed with which you can lift salaries and on overall institutional performance during a five-year period.

The Welcome Letter

The Board agrees with the concern you expressed about faculty salaries at our last meeting. At the meeting you convinced us that the salaries we offer are 14% below the market. Further, because competitive salaries are expected to remain constant, this means our salaries need to improve by 14%. We hope you can accomplish this within ten years, or in less time, if possible.

Scenario 2 -- Allocate New Money

New money provides an opportunity to improve academic quality and institutional prestige, but it is all too easy to disburse the funds ineffectively. Having just received a pledge for a major gift to endowment, you will be asked to allocate the extra income flow to one or more departments in a broad field specified by the donor. You will be judged by the increase in institutional prestige and by the institution’s overall performance over a ten-year period.

The Welcome Letter

Congratulations. Juliet Rudnick has just pledged $19,885 thousands to enhance the sciences and allied fields at our university. The pledge will raise next year’s budget (for Yr. 2) by about $994 thousand. (The name of the person and the size of the gift will vary from game to game.)

The donor gave to improve biology, chemistry, physics and computer science. How will you achieve the goal for which she gave so generously? You could concentrate big money on one or two departments or spend a little on many. The number of students affected by an alternative represents one criterion for selection. Another criterion is how your allocation of resources affects nonscience departments and such important facets of university life as the quality of teaching.

The Board will judge your success first in meeting the donor’s expectations, which may encourage other donors, and then in lifting the prestige of our university.

Scenario 3 -- Teach Better

More schools are being criticized for lack of attention to educational quality. You will be confronted by an adverse accreditation report. The report indicates that resources are sufficient but cites discontinued courses, student demoralization, insufficient faculty time and attention devoted to education, and poor teaching generally. Your challenge will be to improve educational quality without undermining other aspects of institutional performance. You will be judged by the increase in educational quality and the institution’s overall performance over a ten-year period.

The Welcome Letter

The recent report by the accreditation team alarms the Board. Our proud university should not be cited for poor teaching. Something must be done.

The team attributes our failure to inattention to education rather than to lack of resources. They cited discontinued courses, student demoralization, and insufficient faculty time and attention devoted to students. They cited poor teaching in the classroom. While some departments received a passing grade, most cry out for improvement.

In five rather than the usual ten years, the accreditation team will return. At that time, the Board expects the University’s educational quality will be rated good. When the team comes in ten years for our next regular examination, we expect our teaching will be rated excellent.

Remembering the team’s opinion that a lack of physical and financial resources did not cause our poor teaching, the Board does not expect a mere plea for more money to achieve accreditation. Rather, we expect a plan to put in our classrooms a faculty that loves to teach.

Scenario 4 -- Improve Research Performance

Most institutions view research and scholarship as essential elements of academic quality. You will be confronted with an adverse Faculty Senate report on research. The report indicates that University budgets are sufficient but cites excessive teaching loads, insufficient time on tasks related to research, low faculty morale, and low sponsored research support. Your challenge will be to improve the quality of research and scholarship without undermining other aspects of institutional performance. You will be judged by increases in the amount and quality of scholarly work and by the institution’s overall performance over a ten-year period.

The Welcome Letter

At our last meeting you convinced the Board that faculty research and scholarship at our university are mediocre by national standards. Something must be done.

The Faculty Senate Research Committee attributes this condition to a lack of commitment by both faculty and administrators rather than a lack of resources. The committee blames excessive teaching loads and insufficient research support. They blame low faculty morale. Most departments require improvement.

In five years, the Board and the Faculty Senate want the University’s performance rating in scholarship to be strong. The rating reflects the scholarship of integration, application, and teaching as well as knowledge creation. Remembering that the University’s lackluster research performance is not due to a lack of physical and financial resources, the Board expects more than a plea for money. Rather, we expect a plan to breathe life into our laboratories and to re-establish the University’s preeminence as a center of scholarship and discovery.

Scenario 5 -- Win Games

A successful athletics program can energize alumni to donate, attract applicants, and boost institutional prestige. You will be confronted with an adverse Alumni Association report on athletics. The report cites too-stringent admissions standards and insufficient financial aid for athletes in addition to low athletic department budgets. Your challenge will be to improve football and basketball without undermining other aspects of institutional performance. You will be judged by increases in the teams’ win-loss percentage, the NCAA level of competition, and the institution’s overall performance over a four-year period.

The Welcome Letter

The Alumni Association has impressed upon the Board the mediocrity of our athletes. The Board agrees that our institution should win more games, thereby strengthening the loyalty of alumni and attracting new students to all our departments. Something must be done.

The Alumni Association criticizes our admissions standards as too high and our athletics budget as too low. We are faulted in particular for providing insufficient financial aid for athletes. The Alumni expect our inattention to athletes to be corrected without damaging the academic performance that, at bottom, represents the worth of our university.

In four years, the Board and the Alumni Association will review your progress as reflected in our teams’ victories. By then, we want our teams to win more than 60% of their games. We would be especially pleased if they were then winning more than 60% in a higher NCAA Division. How will you achieve these goals and at what cost?

Scenario 6 - Reduce Tuition

Tuition escalation has become a pressing public policy issue in higher education. In this scenario, your Board informs you of a new policy that states tuition rates must decrease. The goal of the policy is to enhance financial discipline and attract more talented students to your institution. Your task in this scenario is to maintain institutional performance while decreasing tuition.

The Welcome Letter

The Board notes with alarm that our tuition has escalated at a real rate of 3% per year. Equal extravagance at other institutions does not relieve us of our responsibility to lessen the burden on our students and their parents. People will rebel if higher education continues to be seen as pushing aside their other needs.

Believing the time has come to take a stand, the Board notifies you of its firm policy that our tuition shall not rise. In fact, the board would like tuition to go down.

Until now the University has estimated the growth of nontuition revenue, funded new programs, salary increases, and other costs, and then closed the gap by raising tuition. You will now estimate tuition like other revenue and close the gap by disciplining expenditures. The new budgeting will strengthen internal financial discipline by forcing trade-offs among competing expenditures. Most important, tuition reductions will make us accessible to a larger pool of talented students, thus ensuring the worth and continuity of our university.

Scenario 7 - Respond to Enrollment Shifts

Your institution is experiencing changes in student priorities and academic interests. As a result, some departments have more capacity than they do students while other departments are struggling to meet demand. You are faced with disparities in teaching load and class size and some departments where large numbers of students are being denied access to courses. In this scenario, you have ten years to correct the imbalances brought on by enrollment shifts in order to maintain educational quality.

The Welcome Letter

Shifts of enrollment among departments have distorted course listings, overloaded some teachers and buildings, and left others idle. These shifts leave some courses half-filled while students are foreclosed from desired overfilled courses. Some departments have upped the proportion of lecture courses to accommodate increased student numbers.

Because the world has moved on and made a return to the previous pattern unlikely, the Board shares the concern you expressed at our last meeting. Going beyond describing misalignments, however, how will you restructure our academic programs and faculty resources to match today’s needs?

By the second semester of year 11, the Board expects educational quality to increase, course denials to decrease, and average teaching load hours to rise substantially. What is your plan?

Scenario 8 -- Enroll More Minority Students

Boosting the number of qualified minority students represents an important goal for many institutions. You will be confronted with a relative scarcity of minorities in the student body. Your challenge will be to alleviate the scarcity without incurring budget deficits or undermining other aspects of institutional performance. You will be judged on increases in qualified minority enrollments and on overall institutional performance over a 10-year period.

The Welcome Letter

The Board shares your concern about the scarcity of minorities among our students. Further, because minorities are equally scarce among freshmen as among seniors, we see no evidence that time will cure the problem. Instead, you must act promptly to increase the number of minorities.

The Board sets your goal as boosting the number of minority students twofold in ten years, that is, from 9% to 18%. At the same time, we expect this will make us accessible to new pools of talented students, guaranteeing the worth and thus continuity of our university.

The Scenario 9 -- Hire More Minority Faculty Members

Boosting the number of minority and female professors represents an important goal for many institutions. You will be confronted with a relative scarcity of minorities and women on the faculty. Your challenge will be to alleviate the scarcity without incurring budget deficits or undermining other aspects of institutional performance. You will be judged on the growth of minorities and women in the professoriat and on overall institutional performance over a five-year period.

The Welcome Letter

At our last meeting, you told the Board your concern about the few minorities and women on the faculty. We agree heartily and expect the shortfall to be redressed promptly.

You told us that the University has about the same under-representation in all fields, and that minorities are even more underrepresented than women. The scarcity of minorities and women among young as well as old faculty shows the problem will not correct itself.

The Board sets your goal as boosting minority representation by 50% in five years. For women, the goal is a 25% increase in five years. We ask how you will accomplish these goals and with what change in budget and staff size. At the same time, we expect the enhanced representation of women and minorities on the faculty to enrich all aspects of university life. (Percentages shown above are examples. Actual percentages are created dynamically based on conditions in the generated game.)

Scenario 10 -- Balance the Budget

Large budget deficits require immediate corrective action to avoid depleting the University’s financial reserves. You will be confronted with a significant revenue loss. Your challenge will be to cut the budget while minimizing adverse effects on academic quality and future financial and operating viability. You will be judged on the speed with which you achieve a balanced budget, on whether you can offset the original deficits with subsequent budget surpluses, and on overall institutional performance during a nine-year period.

The Welcome Letter

The budget deficit you project alarms the Board. Unexpected shortfalls in research grants, gifts, and other income have thrown the budget ($5,711 thousands) into the red. Worse, hopes of more income anytime soon are vain. At our recent meeting, you disappointed the Board by advancing no remedy to cope with the new circumstances promptly. We are disturbed that you currently are targeting a 3 percent deficit for next year.

You must act immediately. Although some actions may require more than one year to phase in, you must balance the budget within three years from now. Furthermore, after achieving a balanced budget during years 4, 5, and 6, you should run surpluses for years 7, 8, and 9 or until reserves rise to their current level of $9,000 thousand.

You must accomplish the above without diminishing the average “Performance indicators” and “Attitudes toward the institution” scores (listed on the “Score” screen.)