A University task force likely spelled the end of the troubled Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID) last week, recommending it be dissolved and its programs distributed among Harvard schools.

The task force conducted a six-month-long review of HIID and included this recommendation in its final report Jan. 4. The institute conducts international research and acts as a consultant to foreign nations.

University President Neil L. Rudenstine and the Harvard Corporation are expected to accept the task force's recommendations, and a final decision is likely to come by the end of the month, according to University spokesperson Joe Wrinn.

Wrinn added that if the recommendation is accepted, the administration might distribute HIID programs to schools like the Kennedy School of Government (KSG) and the School of Public Health (SPH) as soon as the end of spring term.

Some programs will probably not be picked up, according to the task force's report. At this stage, no one can say what will happen to employees of those programs. Wrinn said there will be no loss of income for any HIID employee through June.

HIID interim director Richard B. Pagett said until there is a final decision, the provost's office has instructed the institute to "proceed with business as usual."

"When the task force was appointed in July it was made very clear that this was a comprehensive review,"

Pagett said. "I think everyone understood that that meant all possibilities were on the table from the very beginning."