Nearly half of public universities and public four-year colleges in the United States reported central IT budget cuts in fall 2008, according to new research released Wednesday by The Campus Computing Project, California. That's up significantly over last year. At the same time, open source software is looking more appealing to campuses, with about a fourth reporting a 'high likelihood' that they will migrate to an open source LMS within the next five years.
The report, 'The 2008 Campus Computing Survey,' is based on input from high-level IT personnel at 531 public and private two- and four-year institutions. What it found were large percentages of institutions experiencing cuts in fall 2008, including 45.4 % of public universities (up from 16.3 % in 2007) and 44.4 % of public four-year colleges (up from 16.7 % in 2007). The report also showed that 22.8 % of private universities saw budget cuts, along with 23.5 % of private four-year colleges and 24.6% of community colleges.
