Learning Resources

Abstract: Tri-County Technical College in northwestern South Carolina developed a proactive academic program strategy to determine which programs will be offered in the future, including where, how, and when. The process also evaluates which existing programs will be maintained or grown. Business and industry have long used product strategies to determine what will be delivered to market to best meet consumer needs; similarly, Tri-County created a program strategy to be more responsive in meeting employer and community needs. The approach is necessarily nimble, responding to labor market changes, political interests, governance assessment requirements, and the need for continuous program improvement. Using this proactive approach, academic programming decisions can strategically impact curriculum design, enrollment management, learner support and engagement, student transitions programming, and facilities design. Processes and tools were co-created by faculty and staff and incorporated into their roles, negating the need for initial buy-in. Overall, an effective program strategy improves both student access and success while helping the college be more nimble in meeting emerging labor market needs.

Abstract: Succeeding at integrated planning at colleges and universities is a challenge. Many planning models do not work in higher education because they are not designed for higher education. Planning processes designed for corporations or non-profits do not account for the complex environment of higher education nor its unique challenges.

Many institutions struggle to leverage planning into lasting change because they create plans in a vacuum. They do not grasp the institution’s strategic issues or create a sound value proposition. They are not prepared for good planning.

To provide guidance on where to prioritize efforts, SCUP partnered with the Baker Strategy Group in 2015 to conduct a study with more than 2,200 leaders who plan at colleges and universities, and ran quantitative analysis on their responses. Several themes emerged around planning challenges and how to respond, which are explored in this report.

Abstract: These are times of unprecedented change in higher education. Routine or even strategic change will not be enough to sustain institutions in the near future. Challenging times require leaders with strong skills for problem solving, crisis management and resiliency in rapidly changing environments—in other words, transformative leadership. Transformative leadership skills are distinctive among leadership skills. Based on an ABC framework, the article describes connections between the As (analytics, accreditation, accountability), Bs (decisions whether to build, buy, or buddy with partners), and Cs (culture, collaboration, and courage) that it takes to be transformative.

Abstract: The focus on information exchange and collaboration is defining a sea change in the evolution of the campus into a technology-rich virtual learning environment. The rapid advances of technology in the last decade, the rise of cohort-oriented inquiry-based pedagogies, and the future of virtual learning are redefining the planning issues for learning space. Near-term and future technologies offer the potential for education to become a continuous, interconnected, and integrated process that allows students to succeed in a perpetually changing world. The themes of upcoming SCUP conference events make it clear that the society is again focusing on advances in collaboration and educational processes that will have an immediate impact on our members who are planning for the inevitable ongoing learning space evolution.

Abstract: This report synthesizes the trends observed by more than 90 members of SCUP’s planning academies through the 2013 fall concurrent session proposal review process for SCUP’s 2014 annual, international conference (SCUP–49). This document is a flash report of the continuing and emerging issues of interest to SCUP. It’s a reflection of what was in the minds of the academy members who participated as reviewers for the SCUP–49 concurrent proposal selection process, and of those desiring to contribute to SCUP’s body of knowledge through their program submission.