Institutional Pressures on Trent University's Evolution - Report Example

al Pressures on Trent s Evolution al Pressures on Trent s Evolution Trent has been attempting to uphold the original launch character but has been facing serious financial challenges. The University has to change its original character and adjust to relatively new concepts from other standard institutions for it to become bigger. Trent University has always appreciated the need to maintain a small university for better study results. However, there are many factors that necessitate the change of the current status and character. While the management is trying to change the status of Trent University, the social and cultural characteristics do not seem to be at par with these changes. It is evident that any changes in the Trent University originality cannot be determined by the pressure the institution alone but the pressure on the management and the external factors. It may not be well understood exactly what factors will foster the changes. It is however evident that a change in Trent University culture is as a result of many factors beyond the internal and external factors. Internal Factors Trent University was started in 1964 to offer liberal arts and science courses. The University has developed well in the last five decades but has always tried to uphold the founding principles and elements. The character of Trent University is to admit a small number of students to be able to teach, train and guide them better. Employees at varying levels at Trent University confirm this principle. Most of them support the founding principle of Trent University of a small University where students can interact with their trainers, staff and the various departments better. Although the employees prefer this, they do not have any powers in maintaining these principles. In fact, there are changes which bring a lot of challenges in maintaining these principles. The number of prospective students has increased exponentially making and Trent University is at a cross road. The board of directors of Trent University are gearing the institution towards larger institutions. As much as the management would like to maintain Trent’s founding, the financial problems cannot allow. Trent University lost the Peter Robinson College for its inability to maintain it due to the high costs of the same. Nevertheless, the institution was able to secure a grant from the government of Toronto. Trent University had to meet the condition of creating a centralized institution in which the Peter Robinson College was the sacrifice for the process. As such, the management has to make a decision to maintain Trent University at all costs and changing it to resemble the other standard institutions seems like the only solution at the moment. These changes will be critical as Trent University will now have to complete with the other larger institutions on varying levels. However, the staff and faculty of Trent University object the current marketing strategies proposed by the management. They claim that the marketing leaves the prospective students uncertain of what to expect when they enrol in Trent University. Staff and Faculty think that the current marketing strategies leave out the strengths of Trent. They wonder how students would enrol if indeed they do not know the strengths of the institution. Changing the marketing strategies can increase the enrolment to the university which would ease the current financial challenges the institution is facing. Outside Forces Keeping Trent Small Trent University vision to remain a small university is supported by the community and the economy of the region. These factors by far prevent Trent University from growing to large standard institutions as much as the management would like to. The university is located in Peterborough which is a city whose majority of the population is the retired population. In this case, there are few youths in the city which affects the number that would enroll in Trent University. At the same time, the economy of the region is relatively different from other universities especially those in the large cities. With a small city, the number of youths expected in the city is relatively low. Basing on that not all youth enroll in the University, the number of youths that would be expected to enroll in Trent University would be low contrasting the number that would be expected in a large university in a large city like Toronto University. The small hospitable community of Peterborough forms the community in the university as students, faculty and trainers. These factors have influenced the students’ tastes and preferences for the University. Coming from a small community, students from Peterborough would prefer relatively small classes where they would interact with the staff and faculty freely. The small population of students at Trent University allows for this perfectly well as Professor Johnson confirms. Students do not have to wait for long hours to be helped and the staff does not have to be overwhelmed by many students. The needs of the students are addressed effectively and fast making them feel important to the University. The University also does not have a lot of land which can be used for development. At the same time, it would not get enough land for expansion as there is no land that would be availed to the University. There are various restrictions on how the land surrounding Trent University can be used. As such, the University has to remain small as long as it is in the current location. The management has no option but to enroll a few numbers of students that can be supported by the current infrastructure accordingly. External Forces Pushing Trent To Grow It is evident that the world is changing exponentially from any fronts. Institutions that would like to survive in this rapidly changing world have to embrace the changes. The current changes have threatened the survival of Trent University. While it would have been best to maintain the founding principle of a small university, the current trends do not allow that. The changes being experienced are putting a lot of pressure on Trent University to change to a larger university. Not because the management finds it fit to do so, but to be able to survive in the current wave of social cultural changes. Currently, there is a lot of competition among Universities. Each university is looking forward to admit new students from other regions basing on what they are looking for. Students are nowadays looking at the curriculum for the Universities they are interested in. For example, a student interested in sports for example rowing may enrol in Trent University because it has a rowing tank. Equally, another student looking to enrol in lets say psychology would be compelled to enrol to Trent University because it offers that course. However, these factors may also make other students to enrol in other universities that have the same course and facilities. The university that performs better in the various courses stands a better chance to enrol more students in those courses. Trent University has to ensure that it performs well in all the courses it offers to be competitive. While these reasons are compelling enough for University of Trent t expand and have more programs to attract new students and maintain a competitive edge, the university faces some financial challenges. Queens and Western Universities have vast resources which allow them to expand their institutions faster and to a larger scale. They can afford to develop better facilities to handle the new students they attract. Trent University needs to expand the resources to attract new students to get money to fund infrastructure development and growth to have a competing edge with Queens and Western Universities. In fact, the current situation of Trent University is due to these two universities. They have taken large share of the market and small universities like Trent attract few or no students. Even the students that preferred the small classes now prefer to go to institutions that have reputation, of which most are the large mainstream institutions. Trent University has no choice but to follow these universities to get more students. Now wonder the population of Trent University has grown four folds from 1964 when it was launched. Staff at Trent University appreciate that the university has to expand to survive the wave created by Queens and Western Universities rather than the perception that university is expanding due to management’s perception. These changes have definitely tainted the individuality of Trent University and the founding principles. Some people who have known the University for Long Claim that they do not know where the university is at the moment. They cannot even determine whether Trent University is the same as it was a decade ago. Conversely, the management is not ready to let the founding principles of the Trent University to be blown by the change wind without a fight. In fact, the management has been trying the very best to maintain the founding principles. Faculty and staff of Trent University also support going back to the niche university it once was. However, it is certain beyond reasonable doubts that the management, staff and faculty are fighting a war they cannot win. The social cultural forces are so big that it is practically impossible to do away with. The changes are necessary but have changed the University a lot according to Jane Doe, who has been the librarian in the University for close to four decades. She confirms that Trent University was very homely at the time but that has changed to a central institution where the interests of the students do not seem to be well addressed. The University had many natural places but they are no longer there. Developed has led to the encroachment of the wildlife and the natural features that were around the university. Conclusion Trent University was established in 1964 with the main goal of offering liberal arts and science courses. The principle was to remain a small university to be able to address the students’ issues and interests better. However, this has changed in the last four decades. Universities have become very competitive and each university that would like to survive has to appreciate the new dynamics. Trent University has developed and grown with the number of students being four fold the number that was at the launch of the institution five decades ago. The management and the faculty feel that the university should appreciate the founding principles. Trent has been trying to remain small but has outgrown the smallness it once appreciated. it seems that Trent University has to embrace the changes that are taking place in the world of education even if it has to sacrifice some of its treasured facilities for example the closure of the Peter Robinson college. The management should focus on other ways of maintain the interests of the students rather than trying to remain small. After all, Trent University has to do what it has done to be competitive and remain in the field. In fact, the management and the faculty should focus their energies on other ways of providing for the students. References Read More