ABSTRACT
The University of Michigan has 36,000 students at its Ann Arbor campus and an additional 10,000 students at the Dearborn and Flint campuses. About 68 percent of the students are undergraduates, 25 percent are graduate students, and 7 percent are enrolled in professional programs. Constitutionally autonomous from other state agencies, the University of Michigan is governed by a board of regents. The planning started with a request to the University Computer Policy Committee from the vice-president for research. Once the perspective for planning is clearly understood, the framework in which the planning will take place becomes important. As noted, the University Computer Policy Committee reports to the vice-president for research. This office oversees the operation of the scientific computing center and reviews proposals for the acquisition of minicomputers, whatever their intended use. Therefore, the request to the committee was initially interpreted as a request for advice in revising operational guidelines for both minicomputer acquisitions and computing center development.
