The University of Maine System's seven campuses are competing with each other, rather than cooperating.

And that needs to change if the system is to bridge a $43 million budget gap over the next four years.

That's the message from a 12-member task force charged with recommending major changes to the seven-campus network.

The group -- made up of university professors, administrators, staff members, a student, trustees and business people -- released the first draft of its report to the public Tuesday and is seeking public comment on it before it's presented to system trustees.

The report is at times pointed, and recommends broad cultural changes at Maine's seven public universities. But the document also highlights the university system's assets and its role in spurring economic development.

The system's campuses are competing against each other to attract students, money and academic programs. That leads to expensive duplication and diminished quality, according to the task force's report, which recommends that Maine's public universities specialize in different academic offerings.

"We simply can't afford to be all things to all people," said David Flanagan, the former Central Maine Power Co. chief executive who led the 12-member task force. "That's going to be tough, for sure, but that's the new reality of what the situation demands."

At the same time, according to the draft report, professors at the different campuses need to collaborate to develop common introductory courses and the intercampus transfer process needs to become simpler for students.

Collaboration between the universities and the Maine Community College System also needs to increase, the report says.

The 45,000-student university network is facing a confluence of forces that have led to funding deficits, and corresponding job and program cuts. Maine's college-age population is shrinking, limiting the universities' pool of potential students as state funds are cut and investment losses have multiplied.

The changes recommended in the draft report released Tuesday, combined with changes two other groups -- focused on academics and finances -- are recommending, should put Maine's public universities on the path to financial sustainability, Flanagan said.

"I think it's a blueprint of success in the future," he said.

But the changes are not going to be easy to implement.

The draft report highlights a university system culture focused too much on consensus and not enough on long-term strategy.

That's "good for keeping everyone involved, but effectively precludes any actions that are outside of people's comfort zones," the draft report reads. "Thus, the system tends to repose in inertia, or to move forward by the uncoordinated initiatives of individual campuses, rather than by explicit policy decisions. That is why the same problems are raised -- and not addressed -- year after year."

The report notes that the recommendations for change made in 2009 are similar to those made in reports published in 1986 and 1996.

This time around, Flanagan said, he's confident university trustees and administrators will take the calls for change to heart.

"Of course there are a lot of institutional forces that would like to see the status quo maintained, but they have this cruel reality of this $43 million structural deficit," he said. "The bottom line is going to drive what you're willing to consider. The university either has to go down the road that we're describing, or it has to make across-the-board cuts that hurt everybody, or it has to reduce the number of students it can take."

University System Chancellor Richard L. Pattenaude, who appointed but did not sit on the task force, said the university system realizes major changes are needed.

"We acknowledged that we need to change," he said. "And I think that the context is much more compelling than it was around prior reports" published in 1986 and 1996.

The report's pointedness is what university officials were expecting, Pattenaude said.

"We asked them to help us get out of our comfort zone," he said, "to provide us with ideas and recommendations that would be provocative and thought-provoking."

University trustees will see final change recommendations at their meeting July 13. Pattenaude and campus presidents will combine those recommendations into an action plan that trustees will approve and the system will begin implementing in November.

Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, ext. 435
mstone@centralmaine.com