MONTGOMERY-- Entrepreneurialism, internationalization and reorganization were key topics presented to Montgomery Kiwanians today.

Troy University Chancellor Jack Hawkins Jr., speaking to the Montgomery Kiwanis Club, said the University that operates campuses in Montgomery, Troy,Dothan and Phenix City was strategically overhauling its operations, clearing the way for greater growth in the future and streamlining its services to meet budget demands.

As we entered the decade of the 1990s, Alabama’s universities were funded at 92 percent of the regional average. A decade later, universities were funded at 56 percent of the regional average. During that same period, $1 billion was shifted from higher education to K-12,” he said.

In a response to that decline, the University, through an effort dubbed “One University,” will merge its academic accreditation and administration into one system on August 1, a move that will eventually save about $16 million and standardize courses allowing course credits to transfer easily among TROY campuses. In addition to the four Alabama campuses, the University operates campuses in 17 states, 11 countries, on military installations worldwide and through distance learning program.

Such a move is a mere force of economics, he said, estimating that within the next two decades, 30 to 50 percent of America’s colleges and universities will merge, realign or close.

Although Hawkins’ institution is a beneficiary of the recently adopted unified budget for higher education, he said universities had to continue to be entrepreneurial in spirit.

“To offset the effects of decreasing state support, I believe our universities must be more entrepreneurial,” he said.

At TROY, that entrepreneurism is found internationally.

Currently the University is generating $60 million in revenue from its activities outside Alabama without any support from state funds. Hawkins said by 2008 the goal is $100 million.

Citing statistics from the U.S. Council for International Business, Hawkins said that with more than 60,000 multinational companies operating in the United States, American universities are required to internationalize their programs.

“We must recruit more international students to our campuses, create exchange programs that send our faculty abroad and bring international faculty to our campuses; and we must build bridges so that our students may study abroad,” he said.