| Bureaucracy is a system of organization.
University bureaucracy is the system through which we, as students,
attain our education. The purpose of college education is for the
pursuit of higher learning; however, bureaucratic issues in schools
can limit one’s educational experience due to complexities
within the system. I will focus on issues such as school size, student
fees, and technology as the core bureaucratic
problems and answers for universities.
Like most large universities, UCLA offers a
lot to those who are capable of taking advantage of things. UCLA
has many programs, services and classroom activities to promote
and support student activism and student
connections in the learning process. Mandatory assessment and placement
in basic skills courses is an important first step. Such placement
allows students to connect with other students with common academic
challenges and abilities as well as build the necessary academic
skills to move forward. Here at UCLA, basic requirements for students
across all majors include general education courses, writing assessments,
and foreign language requirements. The bureaucracy that exists at
this level is the pre-requisite enforcement on course enrollments.
Many of these requirements must be met before a certain number of
units are reached and before students are able to move forward with
their other courses. The enforcement on pre-requisite courses can
create problems such as scheduling conflicts for many students due
to limited numbers of courses offered each quarter.
In large universities, students may also experience
a loss of direction and lack of discipline. I believe that the main
differences between attending college and high school are self-restraint
and self-encouragement. Unlike high school, where attendance was
mandatory and strictly enforced, in college, student attendance
in lectures is mostly self-enforced. This is also due to the idea
that university class sizes can be very
large, to the extent where taking attendance is not possible given
the typical one to two hour lectures. Large classes reflect on the
lack of faculty available for teaching courses, and for the students,
this also means difficulties getting into the needed classes. The
situation is exacerbated by the fact that like all universities’
budgets, the UCLA budget
is experiencing financially difficult times.
Aside from complications with basic course requirements
for class enrollment, access to student services are an even pressing
bureaucratic concern. In order for students to gain access to the
student services offered in many universities, students often have
to go through so many layers of bureaucracy in order to accomplish
seemingly simple tasks. Long lines are quite familiar to most UCLA
students, especially since so many necessary services - from textbook
sales to phone services and parking administration - are provided
in only one location, each with a usually long line. But lines aren't
the only things students have to deal with. Along with bureaucracy
comes a mountain of paperwork. According to U.S.
News and World Report, college students change their major an
average of two times before graduation. Students might switch majors
more than twice at UCLA were it not for the painful process that
accompanies such a change. To change majors, students must first
go to the school of their desired new major, pick up a petition
and have it signed by a department administrator. Then they must
trek over to the department of their old major and get another signature
on the petition, after which it must be reviewed by an academic
committee from the new major's school. Upon approval, and only after
all the appropriate steps have been taken, the student's major is
changed.
Changing a major isn't the only task made difficult
by UCLA's sprawling bureaucracy. Financial aid, schedule changes
made after the deadline, student fees - these are all functions
performed at Murphy Hall, the Grand Central Station to UCLA's administrative
railroad. Since I am an international student, I do not have the
benefits of receiving student loans and grants, however, many of
my friends often complained that the disbursement of loans is too
slow and hampered by bureaucratic nonsense. The school doesn’t
send out the checks until after they have received payment of registration
fees, but for most students, the loan check is the only means to
pay those fees.
Things at Murphy will get even more hectic with
the beginning of each new school quarter. It is not unusual to spend
over an hour in line for service during the first week of classes.
Student transportation issues also complicate the system. The location
of UCLA at the heart of Westwood casts its own problems for parking
and commuting students. There is so much demand for the limited
space for parking and student residence that the application process
for these services are tedious, requiring extensive reviews for
some, and the price for these services has also sky-rocketed among
other student fees.
Despite the bureaucracy that exists within a
large university many students will still prefer large school environments
over smaller schools. Even though smaller schools market themselves
as "student-friendly" and giving their students a lot
of personal attention, students seem to prefer the extensive course
offerings, services and greater reputations of large schools. That
generally translates into a large administration to maintain everything
large universities have to offer. While it seems students don't
like some parts of bureaucracy, they like diverse, well-equipped
universities that, like any large organization, require extensive
administration. I agree with this idea, and believe that bureaucracy
is the price one must pay for the many services provided by huge
schools like UCLA. Therefore, the challenge for a school of any
size is to maintain enough bureaucracy to keep things running, but
to minimize the alienating effects of bureaucracy.
Aside from waiting in long lines, our system
of education also creates financial problems for students. In his
web-based article, “Education
and Financial Aid,” Stephen Lee, a journalist at Columbia
University Law School News, describes how college tuitions have
increased roughly 4 percent above the rate of inflation over the
past decade, but any discussion of this issue involves differentiating
between types of colleges and students, examining how revenue sources
and expenditures have changed, and understanding the changing demographics
which have increased demand for a college education.
According to the information provided on the
official UCLA
website for Undergraduate Admission & Relations with School,
Fees at UCLA for the 2003-04 school year is estimated at $13,704
for tuition and books, and $19,824 for tuition, books and board.
As an international student, my education fees are almost twice
that amount at and estimated $27,914 for tuition and books, and
$34,034 for tuition, books and board.
Since UCLA is a public school, and university
funding is partly provided by the State, tuition at UCLA costs
than many private colleges, who may charge about twice that amount.
Our cross-town rival, University of Southern California, is privately
funded and according to the official USC
website, their cost of tuition for the 2003-2004 school year
is approximately $28,964. As a result, students are left in debt
for years after graduation, repaying the fanatical numbers from
their college tuition. Tuition today means bills tomorrow. The total
effect of the high costs of college education excludes and oppresses
the poor, who are the ones who need education the most. I propose
we should have cheap college level education available via the Internet.
National college level tests may be given for each subject area,
and a college degree will be given upon completing the assessment
exams.
College via the internet is the idea in distance
education. This form of online education allows for a “teach
yourself’ option, giving students greater freedom in learning
at one’s own speed. Nationally standardized texts can be purchased
cheaply on newsprint or readable via the internet. A reasonable
fee can be charged for the national assessment tests upon course
completion and college would be a lot more affordable for the masses.
In his web-based article, “Education,
Commerce, and Competition: The Era of Competition,” the
distinguished professor of computer and information science at the
New Jersey Institute of Technology, Murray Turoff, promotes internet
education by pointing out that students who work part time or full
time, have family or work commitments, benefit from this option
because it allows them to choose when they will participate, eliminates
travel time, allows them to use late night hours, solves course
conflict problems and puts the scheduling of their time entirely
under their control.
The key to the future in my own view is the
incorporation of the technology for group communications into regular
classes and the movement of all university student services on to
the networks. There is no reason why any function the university
provides the student cannot be handled via web based communications
(well maybe not the gym).
Technology can and has been the answer to many
of our bureaucratic problems. New web access such as online registration,
online counseling, online book-purchases has expedited the system
for students to receive their services and educational use of the
web such as class discussion posts, and online class websites (with
links to the class syllabus, and professor contacts) has enabled
students to be more active participants of their class.
The internet simplifies student life and disperses
power. The internet enables people to educate themselves without
falling prey to universities and academicians, and expedite their
life without being trapped to the long lines of waiting at Murphy
Hall.
Additional Links
Anson, Ronald J. “Systematic Reform: Perspectives
on Personalizing Education.” (1994).
http://www.ed.gov/pubs/EdReformStudies/SysReforms/anson1.html
Boser, Ulrich. “E-Learning: Working on
What Works Best.” (2003). http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/elearning/articles/03good.htm
Kerkut, Gerald. 2004. “University Bureaucracy.”
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~gk/educate/bureaucracy.htm
U.S. News and World Report. “Growing Up
Already.” (2003).
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/articles/brief/04campus_brief.php
Vance, Brooke. 2001. “Just the Facts --
Teachers fight university bureaucracy.”
http://www.unews.com/news/2001/02/26/Forum/Just-
The.Facts.Teachers.Fight.University.Bureaucracy-37457.shtml
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