Setting the stage for problem identification
In 1971-72, the University, then still a College, underwent a
thorough exercise of self-analysis and review in preparation for mapping
out for itself what became known as the D e La Salle Ten-Year
Development Plan: 1973-83. The exercise and the plan led directly or
indirectly to several significant developments, among them the
admission of wome n students, the conversion to a university and,
eventually, the introduction of the trimester system. A n important
process in the exercise was the evolution of an Institutional Mission
Statement (1983) (Annex 2), forged through an elaborate network of
consultations and amendments, in which all members of the academic
community actively participated and became aware of the University's
goals, strengths, weaknesses and alternatives for the future. The major
problems were found to be the following:
The implications of rising costs and financial constraints
O n e of the main insights of the planning exercise was the
recognition of the long-term implications of inflation rates at that time on
salaries and other costs. In spite of the high enrolment growth targets
laid out by the ten-year plan (and already there was initial resistance to
breaking through the ceiling of 3,000 students set as the optimum, given
limited campus facilities), it became clear that revenue targets would be
increasingly difficult to meet.