The Board of Trustees will discuss future projects and sources of funding this weekend, including Duke’s China campus.
In a strategic planning session, Trustees will consider investments in Duke’s future, including construction projects, academic programs, financial aid and other University priorities. The Board will focus on the Kunshan, China campus, evaluating its costs, its academic programs and the recently announced partnership with Wuhan University, Executive Vice President Tallman Trask said.
The Trustees will also discuss increasing undergraduate tuition. Provost Peter Lange estimated the increase in the cost of attendance at Duke will be between 3 and 4 percent.
The additional income will help to fund an increase in compensation for many University professors, staff and employees, which will include an increase in salaries and fringe benefits. Trask noted that administrators hope to end a two-year salary freeze, though the Board will not vote on the salary increases until the Board’s May meeting.
In addition, the Trustees will discuss plans for a University fundraising campaign. Dates for the public phase of the effort have not been finalized, said Michael Schoenfeld, vice president for public affairs and government relations.
“As is always the case at a major university... you’re always looking at the next stage of our development and how we will identify the resources that will let us get to that next stage,” said Chair and Democratic N.C. state Sen. Dan Blue, Law ’73.
Investment in China
President Richard Brodhead announced at his recent address to the faculty that the Kunshan campus will cost the University $1.5 to $2 million a year for the next five years. In an interview Thursday, Lange clarified that Brodhead was citing the central administrative funding figure—not the total amount Duke will spend on the campus. Other sources of funding include money from the Fuqua School of Business and from philanthropic efforts.
If the Kunshan campus requires 20 percent more than the amount of central administrative funding approved this weekend, the measure would have to be separately passed by the Board, Trask said. The city of Kunshan is also contributing significant funding to the new campus. Under Duke’s current agreement with Kunshan—which has not yet been finalized—the University and the Chinese city will split operating costs “50-50,” Trask said.
Blue said four or five Board committees will discuss specific parts of the Kunshan campus—one financial issues and another academic affairs, for example. Then, the Trustees will gather to discuss the campus at large.
“[Planning] has been an extraordinary investment of time, energy and research,” Blue said, noting that members of the Board have been discussing the project for 18 months. “I think an overwhelming majority if not all of the Board members are extremely engaged and looking forward to us taking the next step in this process.”
Although Trask is confident in Duke’s plans for Kunshan, he acknowledged that sources of revenue are more difficult to predict than the cost of the campus. It remains unclear how many students will participate in programs on the campus and what tuition will be, he noted. Trask said the University has “clear exit options” if the Kunshan campus does not go as planned.
He noted that Kunshan has the highest per-capita income of any city in China and that a 15-minute high-speed train ride brings passengers from Shanghai to within 10 to 15 minutes of Duke’s new campus.
“I believe that 20 to 30 years from now people will say that it was a very good thing that Duke ended up with an international presence.” Trask said. “I think they’re going to agree that China was the interesting place to be, and I think that Kunshan is the most interesting opportunity we’ve seen in China.”
In the Fall of 2012, when administrators anticipate students will first study at the campus, Lange said the Global Executive MBA and Cross Continent MBA programs will be held there. He said he also hopes the campus will offer a Global Semester Abroad, a Duke INtense Global program and perhaps a one-semester, multiple-course program for undergraduates that may focus on global health. Those programs have not been finalized, he noted.
Lange said the University will continue to work with a consulting firm to properly set tuition. He noted that this effort is “a little bit unexplored territory,” however, because no American universities offer similar programs in China.
“I actually think that if we hit the tuition number right we’ll have as many students as we want,” he said. “It’s a big place and it should be an attractive degree—but I have no way of knowing [a precise number] right now.”
Duke’s plans for the China campus depend on approval from the Chinese Ministry of Education. The Board has to authorize the administration to submit the application to the ministry, Trask said.
Broader priorities
The Kunshan campus is just one of many projects the Board will discuss.
Trustees will review future projects to give the University direction when funding becomes available, Trask said. The discussion will center on both construction projects and academic programs that will improve the student experience.
Of the construction projects administrators are currently considering, renovations to Baldwin Auditorium, Page Auditorium and the West Union Building are likely to be in Duke’s near future, although no architects have yet been hired, Schoenfeld said. In Baldwin and Page, Duke hopes to improve acoustics, upgrade seating and revamp the backstage areas.
Trask said he hopes enhancements to West Union and the Flowers Building will begin in 2012. This will present a number of logistical challenges, he noted, including providing dining for students when the Great Hall is affected and selecting an architect.
“The biggest problem is 4,000 people have to eat somewhere,” Trask said.
Brodhead will speak to the Trustees about the two candidates to design West Union, though the Board will not necessarily pick an architect at the meeting, Trask said.
The Board will also discuss a logical first phase of New Campus, Trask said, though this is also dependent on funding that has not yet been secured.
“I have said to people, ‘We have weathered the worst of the storm.’ No one should assume we’re going back to where we were,” Trask said, noting the University’s investment portfolio is still down more than $1 billion.
Schoenfeld said the Board will also discuss financial aid, interdisciplinary studies, the arts, the student experience and changes to the residential experience, including the house model. The Graduate School is scheduled to give a presentation to the Board concerning its strategic outlook.
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