Why does the Des Moines area have three large shopping malls (soon to be four), each with many of the same stores or kinds of stores?

Why does central Iowa have more than a dozen recreational areas featuring boating, camping and other similar activities?

Why does the state of Iowa have 15 community college systems, each offering many of the same kinds of educational and vocational programs?

The populations served both demand it and need it. These are examples of necessary duplication.

Some duplication necessary
Some duplication is necessary for proximity and convenience reasons. Another reason is due to differences in the specific kinds of services found at different locations.

Yet another IS that if all similar facilities or functions were consolidated in one location, it would be too large to manage effectively, and quality and access would suffer.

The same holds true for the educational programs offered at Iowa's three public universities. Iowa is fortunate to have three distinctly different public universities, each with its own specific and focused mission.

However, each institution must also offer a wide range of programs so its students receive a broad, general education. This requires each university to have English, chemistry, biology, history and foreign languages, etc. But there is relatively little duplication at the graduate level even in these areas.

High-demand spurs program development
Each university has developed programs to respond to the needs of Iowa and the interests of the students. For example, each now has a college of business and education because the student demand is so great that no one university could accommodate it, and because Iowa needs so many graduates in these areas.

These are among the largest undergraduate programs at each university, and each has developed distinctly different areas of emphasis or strength.

These programs are necessarily duplicative because of the demand by students and the need for large numbers of professionals in these fields.

Closing a large program at two of the three universities and making it available only at the third would have several negative impacts.

It would require a massive build-up of faculty and facilities at the remaining institution to handle thousands of additional students and develop program strengths that are available at all three universities. One could argue that a series of such "consolidations" would balance the need for facilities and faculty expansion. But the kind of facilities and faculty needed differs hugely depending on the program (e.g., engineering vs. business).

Breadth of majors helps undecided students
Another negative impact of consolidation would be the loss of opportunity for students. Almost half of college students today arrive as freshmen not knowing which major they want to pursue, and students on average change their majors two to three times. It is important for a quality institution to have a relatively broad set of majors for undergraduate students to choose from as their interests clarify. Coverage of all possible academic majors is not necessary, but it is important for each university to have the more popular ones.

Closing programs would result in Iowa's loss of many outstanding faculty who have built areas of emphasis at one university and who would take their special expertise to an established program at a university in another state rather than "start over" at a consolidated program in Iowa.

Finally, there is the geographic consideration. Many students in business, for example, commute to one university because it is near home. They are unable to relocate because of family and work demands, and a longer commuting distance would be prohibitive.

State universities are committed to minimizing unnecessary duplication, just as we are committed to ensuring that Iowans have adequate access to educational programs they need and want.

We will strengthen that collaboration in view of the current budget realities.