Abstract
During the last century, federal actions coupled with significant state investments have brought higher education to the forefront of the public sphere. Recently, society has begun to question the value of higher education, and all public universities today are under immense pressure to prove their public value and impact while facing increasing demands for accountability and better results. With changing demographics, labor market, and growing costs, more is demanded from colleges and universities in terms of service, efficiency, and accountability. To avoid the gathering storm, public universities must work together for their distinctive missions, to improve productivity, and to develop transparent measures of accountability. Given the challenges higher education is facing today, public universities must go through a culture of planned change and performance management to recognize the public good and strengthen public value.