The report by consultants from Accenture, delivered last December, promised millions in savings for
Bowling Green State University.
Implementing those recommendations – a job that university officials are now engaged in – may go beyond
dollar signs and change the face of the University.
Three of the subcommittees, all focused on aspects of the Academic Platform, of the larger Accenture
Report Out Committee, presented some preliminary findings Monday.
They addressed who the BGSU students of the future will be, what they will be taught, and how that
instruction will be delivered.
Dale Klopfer, of the Department of Psychology, discussed expanding the student pool beyond the shrinking
number of 18- to 22-year-olds.
These include adult and international students, as well as those who may have started in college and not
finished their degrees. These recruits would be undergraduates and graduate students, especially those
who pay their own way.
These students, Klopfer said, tend to be "more vocationally-minded."
With this in mind, he said, his committee looked at the Bureau of Labor Statistics to determine what the
high-demand jobs would be over the next decade and tried to align those with programs the university
offers.
Those occupations included auditors, financial analysts, web developers, construction cost estimators,
health service managers, dieticians, graphic designers and music directors and composers.
The committee looked at what programs could handle more students in those high-demand professions now
without requiring additional resources, or minimal resources.
This information, Klopfer said, can be used to recruit all students, but especially non-traditional
students.
During the discussion following the presentations, Lynda Dixson, who teaches in communications, said that
bringing veterans and other non-traditional students into the university will require more counseling
and additional services to meet their needs.
Sue Houston, vice provost for Academic Affairs, said: "That is something we’re actively talking
about."
Dixson said that faculty as well would need training on how to best teach these students.
Paul Cesarini, who directs the university’s Center for Faculty Excellence, agreed. "Even if you’re a
great teacher, it wouldn’t hurt to attend some training."
Cesarini talked about ways the university could reach out to these students using online education.
Among his committee’s recommendations was making it easier to get approval to offer existing courses
online.
He also said that a program that provides funding for members of the Air Force be extended to all
students. That would require finding funding, he noted.
Houston presented findings on changes to the university’s general education offerings, those courses
which all students, regardless of major, need to take.
These changes were in the works before Accenture was hired.
While the changes to the general education menu would increase efficiency, they would also have
educational benefits, she said.
"The notion is that they should be more intentional and focused… not an overwhelming array of
options."
She said the goal would be to make sure those general education courses have 20 to 25 students in them.

Houston said that the changes could be implemented by fall, 2015.
Provost Rodney Rogers said he wanted to have these reports out before the end of the term with work
continuing in the summer.
The Accenture recommendations do have the promise, he said, of both significant savings as well as
increased revenue while building on existing programs.