Small, individual institutions may not be able to survive on the funds that they alone are able to raise. Through integration, institutions will effectively become larger, and therefore better able to compete in the international educational market. Integrated institutions will be better positioned to serve industry, which increasingly requires interdisciplinary education. In a period of societal transformation, students' academic interests have changed dramatically, with finance and law now among the most popular subjects. Rapid changes in society, the economy, and the labor market necessitate academic flexibility and responsiveness, but effective mechanisms for changing curriculum and teaching methods, as well as allowing greater freedom for students in selecting courses of study, are not yet in place.
Inadequate funds make almost all problems more difficult to solve.
Financial constraints make it difficult to hire instructors in new fields, re-train existing staff, and acquire new textbooks and computers to meet student demand. The present rigid system of required courses within a single department should be replaced by a more flexible system of modular courses, in which students are able to take classes in more than one department, applying credit for their completion toward the university degree. A comprehensive and consistent credit system, once established, should be expanded to allow for transfer of credit from other accredited institutions, both foreign and domestic. Students should have the opportunity to study at an approved institution for a semester or a year while continuing to make progress toward a degree. Evaluations by students should become a component of the system of compensation and promotion of faculty, to improve institutional responsiveness to student demand.