The University of California has created $157 million in systemwide administrative efficiencies over the past year, putting its Working Smarter initiative on track to achieve $500 million in positive fiscal impact over five years.

Nathan Brostrom, executive vice president for business operations, and Peter Taylor, UC’s chief financial officer, discussed the results with the UC Board of Regents last week.

UC administrators launched the Working Smarter initiative last July as part of a strategy for coping with ongoing declines in state financial support. It aims to improve and streamline UC’s administrative operations, while also producing $500 million in savings, revenue generation and other positive fiscal impacts.

The $157 million figure reflects cost savings and new revenue produced during the 2010-11 fiscal year from seven of the 29 projects that comprise the Working Smarter initiative, Brostrom said. The remaining projects are still in early phases of implementation, making it too soon to assess their fiscal impact.

“These initial results are very encouraging,” Brostrom said. “Given the ongoing reduction in state financial support for UC, we need to do everything we can to find new sources of revenue and to cut operational costs in ways that preserve and protect the quality of the university.”

Go to the UC Newsroom website for Carolyn McMillan’s full report.

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