The Iowa Board of Regents approved the eight remaining recommendations from a consulting firm that are projected to make the operation of the three state-supported universities more efficient. The recommendations from the Deloitte firm center on sharing operations in areas such as human resources, finances and purchasing in order to save money. The administrations at Iowa State University, the University of Iowa and the University of Northern Iowa will implement some of the changes themselves, while the board is sending out requests for proposals for outside companies to implement others. Some of the plans could lead to cutbacks in staff, which Board of Regents president, Bruce Rastetter of Alden, says the schools are ready to handle.

Regent Larry McKibben of Marshalltown led the review committee and says the faculty and staff makeup at the three campuses is very different and there won’t be one set procedure for dealing with the issue.

McKibben has said he expects the proposals from the consultant will lead to millions of dollars in savings, but says they still do not have an exact number on how much will be saved.