Learning Resources

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: “A look at what the future looked like in 1995, and what happened in higher education as we moved through seventeen years to 2013? Then, a look ahead . . . Remember: Just because we are changing a great deal does not mean we are transforming.” Another SCUP title, Transforming Higher Education—A Vision for Learning in the 21st Century, was once a higher education bestseller. In this monograph, co-author and SCUP Distinguished Service Award recipient Donald M. Norris and his team review what the Academy was doing and thinking in 1995, and what has happened since. They take stock of the present and look back at it from the perspective of 2020. Pragmatically, they suggest dual paths forward. Which will your institution take? Path A, reposition the core? Path B, leap into the future? Or perhaps, as the authors suggest, both?