A Preemptive Goal Programming Model for the Sustainability of Growth in Engineering Colleges

Abstract

Today, ever-decreasing budgets and dynamic variations in the number of both faculty and student bodies are two major challenges that most U.S. universities deal with. In addition to the effort to solve these problems, every higher education institution also concentrates on ensuring its sustainability in the academic and industrial arenas while providing continuous improvements in academic programming, resources and student and Faculty support services. To ensure sustainability and continuous growth, there are various additional parameters that need to be taken into account, such as: revenue from various sources, including tuition, grants from industry and government, and alumni/other donations. Enhancing the technological ability of the University via additional equipment purchases and/or maximizing the utilization of existing technologies can also be counted among the goals of any university. Mathematically, this administrative problem can be addressed using multiple objective modeling techniques. Goal Programming (GP) is a linear programming-based technique that has the ability to handle conflicting objectives in both preemptive and weighted manners. In this paper, we present a preemptive goal programming model for the School of Engineering at the University of Bridgeport. Data and case studies are provided along with a list of objectives for the Engineering School.