Learning Resources

Abstract: Solo climbing mountainous terrain is like managing change in higher education—it requires meticulous planning, considerable effort, and the ability to adapt to a changing environment. This session will discuss how to take key climbing skills—assessing a changing environment and determining which tools, resources, and expertise are needed to manage change—and apply them to higher education. It will share a framework to plan for and manage change so you can achieve your personal and professional objectives.

Abstract: The pace of change is getting faster, and it’s getting harder to anticipate what the future holds—and how your institution can prepare. Scenario planning can help your institution plan for a volatile and uncertain future. Scenario planning uses today’s forces and trends to imagine probable futures and what they could mean for your institution. It’s a flexible process that can inform your institution’s regular planning processes or be used as part of recovery planning in response to disruptions or catastrophic events.

An Integrated Approach to Scenario Planning is a toolkit that will walk you step-by-step through scenario planning. It includes instructions, examples, and blank worksheets that you can use to start scenario planning at your institution immediately. Don’t let your college or university get blindsided. Download your copy and prepare for the future.

Abstract: If you want to ensure planning makes a real difference for your college or university, one of the best things to do is link it to resource allocation and assessment processes. It's also one of the hardest things to do.

This collection of SCUP resources will help advance the connections between planning, budgeting, and assessment at your institution. It includes:

• An adaptable framework one university used to link assessment, strategic planning, and budgeting
• Four models for linking budgeting and planning, each based on the budget model your institution employs
• A step-by-step outline for developing a linked planning and budgeting process
• Advice for linking planning to a decentralized budgeting model

Abstract: by Ricardo Azziz, Guilbert C. Hentschke, Lloyd A. Jacobs, and Bonita C. Jacobs
Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore, MD 2019
288 Pages
ISBN 9781421432601

Abstract: The article presents a framework for integrating assessment, strategic planning, and resource allocation at all levels of an institution. For that purpose, data are collected from academic departments and non-academic units. They are then integrated with strategic planning metrics into an assessment report that identifies the resources that need to be allocated, and to evaluate progress toward developing a strategic plan. The framework can be applied at the departmental or unit level, as well as at the institutional level. It provides valuable input for the budget process and can be used for updates in strategic planning.

Abstract: In order to meet students’ evolving needs and ensure an institution’s ongoing vitality, competitive proposals for campus programming require astute evaluation and vigorous assessment of ongoing institutional benefit. This session will detail strategies from three separate regional university initiatives to solicit, evaluate, adopt, and fund forward-thinking campus enhancements under significant budgetary constraints. Come and explore the successes and failures involved in these planning initiatives that focus on long-term student success, financial viability, programmatic quality, and institutional stability over two decades.

Abstract: Institutions usually spend more on providing courses for some academic programs than others. Stakeholders need to decide where and how to allocate resources to support instruction. This session introduces recent best practices using the Delaware Cost Study data to facilitate 1) the identification of under-resourced academic programs and 2) decision making in faculty budgeting and staffing. You will leave this session ready to re-evaluate the metrics you use to support instructional budgeting decisions so you can identify under-resourced programs and accurately understand faculty hiring needs.

Abstract: Determining where to invest in terms of academic programming and staffing can oftentimes be difficult due to competing interests by academic programs as well as a lack of resources. This session will describe how one university sought to improve academic planning and resource allocation within their academic units, and the software solution they used to do it. We'll discuss the university's example and broader best practices for reviewing metrics in research, finances, benchmarking, and predictive modeling as well as staffing and resource allocation related to academic planning.

Abstract: Higher education’s resource situation is not good and is not expected to get better in the foreseeable future. Elite and wealthy institutions are relatively immune to these pressures, but the overwhelming majority of other institutions are continually struggling to match resources to mission. Several actions, though difficult and painful, would help reduce the gap between available resources and those needed to meet stakeholders’ needs. This session focuses on the need to employ a coordinated and aligned approach to planning, resource allocation, and assessment. It goes on to describe a proven practice for utilizing all three to match resources to mission—strategic resource allocation. Finally, it offers suggestions for initiating the conversation on your campus.