Systems analysis and university planning

The paper has three objectives: (1) to illustrate how systems analysis may aid university planning; (2) to display some applications of systems analysis to a specific university planning situation; and (3) to indicate how some of the difficulties of decision-making in universities pose the need for further development of systems analysis. The CAMPUS type models were employed in a major planning problem at the University of Toronto's Faculty of Medicine. The models were used to study the cost and resource implications of alternative enrolment projections, curriculum designs, research programs, and staffing policy. Results of computer-aided analyses were provided to decision-makers and committees within the Faculty. Major stress is placed on an interaction between university decision-makers and systems analysts. A number of specific results of the analysis are displayed in the paper.