Q. Can you tell us how you turned around Manhattanville College, using a consumer approach?

A. Students are consumers. Administrators must understand higher education economics. They have to ask enrollees what they seek in the college experience. At Manhattanville College, we improved sports programs because they raise visibility and make students proud of their school. One way we did this was by leasing Rye Playland Rink for school ice hockey teams, allowing them to compete at higher levels. College applications tripled from 1995 to 2004, and enrollment doubled during that same period.

Q. What other changes did you institute?

A. Prospective students demand state-of-the-art facilities. Manhattanville upgraded its technology through computer donations and network upgrades. We replaced defunct boilers through workable credit arrangements. We renovated the campus to make it more attractive, including the gym facilities. We marketed our services abroad to attract more foreign students. Eventually, increased enrollment brought in more revenues. As both increased, we raised faculty salaries, hired more teachers, and reduced the instructor-to-student ratio. This led to a “Best Schools” ranking in U.S. News and World Report and the Princeton Review.


After a successful 14-year tenure as President of Manhattanville College, Richard Berman founded LICAS, a consulting firm providing solutions in health care and education.

Passionate about making a difference in the world, Richard Berman is a two-time recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship. The former President of Manhattanville College, Richard Berman maintains a commitment to improving educational opportunities at both a national and an international level. As such, Mr. Berman was awarded his first Fulbright Commission grant in 2006 to travel to Uganda. During his tenure there, he worked with school officials to develop a leadership training program for Kabale University.

In 2010, he received a Fulbright Scholar Program grant to travel to Rwanda, where he not only worked with the Rector of the National University of Rwanda, but also provided consultancy services to the President of the country in the area of health care.

About the Fulbright Scholarship

One of the most well-known government-sponsored scholarship programs in the world, the Fulbright Scholarship was established in 1946 to foster international understanding in a post-war society. The Fulbright Scholarship essentially functions as an international educational exchange program, with around 8,000 grants awarded annually to individuals in more than 155 countries around the world.

Fulbright grants are awarded to a wide variety of students, scholars, and teachers from varying disciplines, including the humanities, performing and visual arts, and mathematics. Since its inception, the Fulbright Scholarship has implemented a number of different grant programs, including those designed specifically around academic study, teaching, public policy, research, and consulting.

For more than a decade, Richard Berman served as President of Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York, where he engaged in many international health, humanitarian, and educational initiatives. At present, Richard Berman serves as a Fulbright Specialist in the Republic of Rwanda. He assists the Director of the National University of Rwanda on education issues and works to tackle health issues with the country’s President and Minister of Health.

Following the end of the genocide in Rwanda in the early 1990s, the country recovered slowly, establishing a transitional government that lasted until 2003, when the current constitution was adopted. Since that time, the country has enjoyed stability and relative prosperity, with Transparency International ranking it as having low corruption levels. Its general economy and tourism sector have enjoyed sustained expansion, with Rwanda’s 3.3 percent growth rate from 2000 to 2010 giving it the largest Human Development Index percentage increase of any country. At the same time, Rwanda faces significant health issues among its population of 10.5 million. Infant mortality stands at 86 for every 1,000, according to internal 2005 Demographic and Health Survey statistics. Severe malnutrition among children under the age of five is at nearly 20 percent. UN Development Programme statistics from 2007 place Rwanda’s life expectancy at birth at 52.73, with 3 percent of its population living with HIV.

Mr. Berman finds it rewarding to participate in the sustained efforts of Rwanda’s Ministry of Health to fulfill the nation’s 2020 Vision. This involves improving quality of health care across the board and providing citizens with universal health insurance. The Ministry is currently engaged in deep reform programs that seek to address traditional health issues and those specific to HIV/AIDS. The NUR School of Public Health recently held a five-day international conference, examining ways of improving management competencies in treating multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. Nearly 90 percent of tuberculosis patients in Rwanda are HIV positive, and any progress on this issue offers significant benefits to a large number of Rwandans. Two programs with the potential make a significant difference in Rwandan health care on a systemic level are The Joint Health Sector Group, which engages in sector planning and prioritization; and the Country Coordination Mechanism, a Global Fund facilitated program that involves local constituents in TB and Malaria treatment and care management.

About the Author: Richard Berman formerly served as President of Manhattanville College, where he created sustained connections between the university and international organizations.