Earlier, we explored the challenges of a traditional "program review" process and made the case for Strategic Academic Planning. In this article, we’ll help you identify some of the data you’ll need to initiate a sustainable, successful strategic academic plan for your higher education institution.
The following guidance is an overview, offering a snapshot of factors to consider rather than operationalizing these metrics. These metrics should be gathered and updated annually to help prevent surprises, disruptive one-time cuts, and reactive thinking that may hinder intentional decision making. Read on for a list of pertinent data areas to consider.
Academic Data
- Student outcomes – employment, persistence to graduate programs, certifications or licensure, and income
- Faculty activities – grant funding, high-profile scholarship, or connections in the community
- Cross-serving opportunities – which programs support other programs or curricula
- Capacity – identify programs that can sustain growth without compromising rigor
Enrollment Management Data
- Applications and application yield – the former can help you understand overall interest in a program, while the latter can help you understand your market
- Applicant demographics and ZIP code – understand your opportunities for growth in traditional and non-traditional populations and modalities
- Advisory group and employer input – leverage insights from the people driving employment demand in your area
Economic Data
- Margins generated by each academic program – which programs are contributing to the bottom line and which aren’t
- Economic drivers of program margins – use a tool, like our Program Economic Analysis, that helps you understand why your programs are generating margins (or not). This might include looking at class size, enrollment trends, net tuition revenue, and adjunct utilization. Looking at these metrics can help create clear, actionable strategies for improvement.
Institutional Data
- Alignment with institutional goals – to what extent does a program serve the institution’s constituents (internal and external)
- Alignment with institutional resources – identify those programs that have sustainable operating models and which will require subsidy, especially in light of the institution’s strategic plan
- Giving and alumni engagement – which programs are bringing external constituents to the table
- Potential new programs – what you could add to your portfolio that would score well on most of the metrics identified in all four buckets above
In our first article on this topic, we made the case that traditional “program reviews” may have a limited impact. They are reactive rather than a regular part of the culture and tend to be conducted in silos, where each constituent group has different motivations and may want different outcomes. By starting with some of the data points identified above, you can be more confident that each data point can illustrate something about the past, present, and/or future of your academic programs and that the data are gathered by cross-functional teams all rowing in the same direction.
In our next piece, we’ll cap off our Strategic Academic Planning series by sharing best practices for leveraging your top assets—your faculty and staff—to help launch a sustainable process.
How Forvis Mazars Can Help
- Watch a recording of our webinar on Strategic Academic Planning to hear about how you can implement this process, use the right data, and leverage the right people to be more strategic in developing your academic portfolio.
- Contact us to discuss Strategic Academic Planning at your institution. Our consultants include former faculty members, acting trustees, and career higher ed CFOs.
If you have questions or need assistance, please contact a professional at Forvis Mazars.