The University of Illinois is on its way to save more than $60 million over three years, an effort that will support its mission in a time of financial distress.

The University of Illinois' drive to become more efficient has paid off to the tune of $26 million so far, putting the university nearly halfway to its goal of saving $60 million over three years by centralizing functions and eliminating waste.

This is noteworthy — and necessary — in a time when the state is behind hundreds of millions of dollars in support with no guarantee when it will be paid.

So far, $26 million in savings have been found, up from $12 million at the beginning of the calendar year. About half of the savings stem from one area, centralized purchasing, and another $6 million-plus comes from information technology.

Former President Stanley Ikenberry created the Administrative Review and Restructuring initiative in November 2009, with the goal of centralizing and trimming costs in leasing, hiring, purchasing and information technology.

Special assistant to the president Avijit Ghosh said last week that the UI has been concentrating on savings and efficiency at the campus and university levels and that procurement savings bore some of the early fruit.

"We really take advantage of the university's scale in making sure we get the prices we want. Typically what happened before was that individual departments and even the smallest units made their own purchases; this is now university-wide," he said.

The initiative will continue, Ghosh said, with a travel and expense management system in the fall, an electronic contract management system soon to begin testing and reforms in research grant management.

University officials say the effort is not about identifying low-hanging fruit to reduce costs, but about reallocation of resources in order to buttress the university's teaching and research needs. Still, the task undoubtedly will become harder.

But it's a process that is showing results, and it must continue as part of the university's quest to remain one of the country's top institutions of higher learning.