Importance of Financial Health - Essay Example

Financial Health Financial Health Section I completed my Bachelor’s from Qassim University, Saudi Arabia. Qassim University is one of the known universities in Saudi Arabia with an enrollment of 40,000 students (as per the 2008 statistics). The Saudi students studying at Qassim University have the advantage of not paying any fees as they are completely funded by the government. However, there are some problems in the overall education system of such universities that make them different from European and American universities. Furthermore, they need to revise their strategies as they are not doing financially well. It should be noted that mentoring and tuition are important functions of any reputed institution or university. It is the core responsibility of the university to mentor and council students regarding career and education. However, the management at Qassim University has overlooked this issue. To note, the university does not have any tutor center for its students. It creates numerous challenges for students and they have to seek external help and guidance. External tutors are expensive and cost students a lot. However, the administration of the university does not understand the situation. Moreover, the university must have a separate writing center in order to focus on the writing skills of students. Unfortunately, it is also one of the major drawbacks of Qassim University that it does not have any writing center, which affects its reputation as a learning center. It is understood that books play an important role in a student’s life. The universities dedicate entire sections for bookstores, libraries, etc. However, Qassim University lacks such basic facilities as well. There is no bookstore in the campus, which is problematic for almost every student. Students face problems for renting or buying books from some bookshop that is located outside the university. The website of Qassim University also has a major weakness. At the start of each semester, the website usually has high traffic of students. However, the software design and technical issues makes it too slow. The website browsing is very slow and students have to spend more time on the Internet surfing to complete their assignments. Qassim University has numerous problems, which leave it behind the top ranked universities of the world. The aforementioned issues are important ones and can be addressed through proper strategies and with the help of proper attention of the university’s management. The Small College Guide to Financial Health: Beating the Odds has listed various essential strategies and recommendations through which Qassim University can improve its financial position (Townsley, 2002). In order to overcome such issues, the management of Qassim University can take help from the top universities and can also analyze various studies and research the issues. It is only through this approach that the university will be able to strengthen its financial condition (Townsley, 2002). Section 2 Georgetown College Founded in 1830, Georgetown College is a private Christian Liberal Arts college that is located in Georgetown, Kentucky. Known for its low student-to-faculty ratio of 11 to 1, Georgetown was the first Baptist College and is currently offering numerous undergraduate and graduate programs. It should be noted that the college faced numerous challenges and issues as part of its initial years. The first president was unable to encounter complex issues regarding duties and funding of the institute. Since, the college was offering professional degrees therefore, there was a sharp increase in admissions and enrolments. The college administration realized the need of a new president / leader who can easily attain the set goals of the college by implementing a sound strategy (georgetowncollege.edu, 2014). As a part of the new strategy, Georgetown had set out four primary goals that included persuasion of the board, faculty, students, and alumni. These goals were defined by the new President Dr. Couch and were directed to stabilize the net income of the college in an effective manner. It is observed that turnarounds have always been difficult for colleges and it was also considered as an obstacle for Georgetown. Therefore, certain strategies were initiated in order to ensure that college is doing well financially. Various programs were initiated as a part of the management’s strategy. Promoting and sustaining student diversity was another major focus of the college. It was in 2006 that the college introduced a new strategy that was aimed at increasing the enrolments of international students. As a part of the new strategy, the college initiated a program referred to as the United Nations of the Horse. However, Georgetown needs other sources of funding and also focus on its long-term goals in order to stabilize its growth and net income (georgetowncollege.edu, 2014). Similar strategies are also discussed in, ‘the Small College Guide to Financial Health: Beating the Odds’ by Michael K. Townsley. Townsley has discussed how colleges can improve their operations and can become successful. One major factor discussed by Townsley is student services (Townsley, 2002). He discussed that by creating a strategy, which incorporates effective student services, can allow the college to boost its growth. For example, the author suggested personal attention, creative programs, and recreational activities. Georgetown College followed similar strategy and it was through this strategy that it was able to attract thousands of international students (georgetowncollege.edu, 2014). Despite such sound strategies and programs, there have always been numerous odds that are faced by the college. The college was never able to control its revenues in a positive manner as it always faced issues regarding it. A recent decrease in enrolments was observed and fluctuations in revenues also showed that Georgetown College is going through difficult financial times. For example, there was a decrease in net revenues during 2001 – 02. The deficit was observed to be $6,604,336. The college then made up the loss as it increased its revenues during 2005-06 by $5,071,717. Unfortunately, an alarming decrease was noted in 2008 when the college’s net profit was reported to be negative $9,951,346. Then again the profits jumped to $6,538,947 in 2010. If the cumulative total net revenues are calculated between 2001 and 2010 then it could be indicated that the college only made $212,410. The college has always faced major fluctuations in revenues since 2001 (georgetowncollege.edu, 2014). Thus, it could be concluded that the aforementioned statistics clearly state that despite its sound and stable strategies Georgetown College failed to maintain its turnarounds in the longer tenure. However, the aforementioned assessment also states that the college tried to maintain its turnaround in the short term. The fluctuations in the aforementioned statistics clearly suggest that the college should focus on new strategies that can maintain the turnaround in the longer run and in an effective manner (georgetowncollege.edu, 2014). Wilmington College Quakers founded Wilmington University in 1870. It is a private liberal arts university that is located in Wilmington, Ohio. Wilmington University is best known for its programs in Agriculture, Education and Athletic Training. The university offers numerous programs offering specializations in various study areas ranging from English literature to Spanish and business subjects. It is because of this reason that the university has done well financially in the past few decades (wilmu.edu, 2014). If the statistics of the University for the last ten years are analyzed then, it could be said that the university has attracted students over the years. For example, in 2001-02, the number of students enrolled at the university was 2,002, and the number increased to 2,584 in 2003-04. In 2005-06 the university enrolled 3,413 students and 4,017 students were enrolled in 2008 – 09. The number continued to increase and in 2010 – 11 as many as 4,465 students were enrolled in the university followed by 4,990 students in 2012-13. Keeping the statistics in mind, it could be said that the university is not a turnaround institute as it is doing financially well and is attracting a great number of students, which is increasing every year. It is certainly because of the sound strategic plan that is followed by the university, which allows the university to control and manage its finances in an effective manner and attract new students (wilmu.edu, 2014). Section 3: It is evident that leadership is a major element to attain the set goals. Without sound and good leadership, it is almost impossible to do well in any field particularly finance. Good leaders contribute towards the financial structure of the university making it strong. An educational leader who is an also the President or Dean must create such a strategy that focuses on every aspect of the educational institute i.e. from the faculty to its students. It will be through this approach that the college or university will be able to achieve its targets and goals in an effective manner (Townsley, 2002). According to Small College Guide to Financial Health: Beating the Odds, it is important for the leader that he must not be under any kind of special influence or pressure and must solely focus on the interests of the institute (Townsley, 2002). Furthermore, the author also states that a good leader has the quality to encourage its team and management to work in a profound manner. Leaders are completely aware of all aspects of the college from its weaknesses to its strengths. They should know what the threats to their college are and what could be done in order to counter those threats. If the president of the college can collaborate effectively with the board members and the staff then, he can easily steer the college through difficult financial times with the help of his profound strategies and approaches. Furthermore, a good leader knows the importance of financial stability of his college and will undertake every possible approach to make its financial structure strong (Townsley, 2002). Reference List georgetowncollege.edu. (2014). Gorgetown College: History. Retrieved from georgetowncollege.edu: http://www.georgetowncollege.edu/about/gc-history/ Townsley, M. K. (2002). Building a Financially Strong Small College . In M. K. Townsley, The Small College Guide to Financial Health: Beating the Odds (pp. 215-216). New York: NACUBO. wilmu.edu. (2014). Wilmington University: About Us. Retrieved from wilmu.edu: http://www.wilmu.edu/about/index.aspx Read More