Learning Resources

For many institutions, institutional viability and constituents’ health and wellbeing are the most pressing concerns—strategic plans are no longer top of mind. How to move forward? SCUP suggests that the principles of good planning serve as a blueprint for responding to COVID-19.

William Knight, Assistant Provost for Institutional Research and Effectiveness, Miami University, addresses how his team has developed data dashboards for administration and faculty to provide insight into Learning Management System (LMS) use, enrollment projections, and overall student access and success.

The word “pandemic” changed everything causing significant disruption in our day-to-day living and expectations. In this unprecedented time, it is even more important than ever that we keep our connections alive as we support one another and help higher education develop the solutions that will ensure our students and institutions continue to thrive. As part of the SCUP community, there are a number of virtual tools at your disposal to use to stay connected.

We are a community where planning comes together, and I know that our professional work and connections create relationships that transcend the plan. We have heard many of you are leading crisis management activities on campuses. Then there are the thousands of you supporting the institutions, having tough conversations in an effort to partner on what’s next. It’s remarkable to see how a crisis activates the best of humanity and reminds us of the power of the SCUP community. Crisis brings questions and the need to connect with a supportive community. We have two tools at your disposal to connect with SCUP members.

The pace of change keeps speeding up. This issue focuses on forces and changes directly impacting higher education, now and in the future.

The practice of environmental scanning is often a first step in the strategic planning process. Typically, planning teams engage in an exhaustive analysis of the internal and external forces acting on the institution to set the planning context. But should scanning the internal and external environment be limited to the early phases of strategic planning?

How is the world changing outside of higher education, and how is higher education responding to change? This report focuses on trends both inside and outside higher education.

In one eight-hour day, six teams came together to perform scanning, analysis, and prioritization activities, all toward one goal: setting “positive, but not delusional” strategic directions that would be the basis of the college’s strategic plan.

This edition focuses primarily on forces of change from inside academe that may drive further evolution in colleges and universities.

We look through an array of lenses outside the world of higher education to gain some perspective on issues and opportunities that appear to be on the horizon—or at our doors.