Rapid campus growth has been uneven across roles, divisions, and administrative units, with medium- and high-level administrators experiencing significant growth.
This unevenness has arguably impacted Academic Affairs, which at $709m represents the largest portion of the total operating budget.
Academic Affairs is a large and complex unit and, unfortunately, publicly available data makes it impossible to know exactly how the budget is allocated. However, the data suggest some trends.
Publicly available data suggests that one of the fastest areas of growth within Academic Affairs is Executive Management, which has doubled its expenditures and salaries over 6 years.
The growth in Executive Management has outpaced other administrative functions and positions.
Expenditures on Academic Administration have decreased (-%2) since 2012, while expenditures on Executive Management have more than tripled.
As a result UCSD now spends more on Executive Management than on Academic Administration.
*The expense categories of Academic Administration and Executive Management are defined by the UC’s Uniform Accounting Structure as follows:
-Academic Administration refers to expenditures for administrative support and management direction to the institution's primary programs.
-Executive Management includes Chancellor, Vice Chancellors, General Counsel,Academic Senate Secretariat, Systemwide assessment, Planning and Budgeting. Includes Health Science Deans since AY2015-16
Over the longer span of 2002 to 2019, expenditures on Academic Administration slightly more than doubled, while the cost of Executive Management quadrupled.
*Executive Management Includes Health Science Deans since AY2015-16
The rapid growth in medium- and high-level administrators is arguably associated with troubling trends in the campus budget and the development of the pedagogical mission of the university.