Institutional Size and Administrative Policy: the Role and Responsibility of the Continuing Education Director.

Abstract

Statement of the Problem. The role of the Continuing Education Director in colleges and universities has received little empirical attention. The problem of this study was first to identify the level of participation colleges and universities allowed the Chief Administrator of the Adult and Continuing Education Division to play in the development of the administrative policies and procedures governing the Adult and Continuing Education Division. Second, does this level of participation change when such factors, as size of institution, are taken under consideration. Methods and Procedures. To achieve the purpose of this study 160 colleges and universities which held membership in the National University Continuing Education Association (NUCEA) were chosen as the study population. The population was divided into three groups according to the size of their student populations. A questionnaire was mailed to the Chief Administrators of the Adult and Continuing Education Divisions, as identified from the National University Continuing Education Association's 1980 membership. The analysis of variance test (ANOVA) was used to determine the relationship of select variable upon the degree of responsibility the Continuing Education Director had in determining the administrative policies and procedures governing the Continuing Education Division. Results. (1) The analysis variance tests indicated that the institutional size is not significantly related (P > .05) to the degree of responsibility the Continuing Education Director had for determining the administrative policies and procedures governing the registration procedures; faculty selection and salaries; program planning and budgeting student admissions; and student counseling services. Conclusions. The data in this study suggest that the general policies followed by the colleges/universities surveyed in this study, in managing their Continuing Education Division, was to decentralize the decision-making process concerning the governance of their Continuing Education divisions by allowing the Continuing Education Director the sole responsibility in determining the administrative policies governing his/her division. This general practice was prevalent among 60% of the institutions surveyed.