Colleges and universities spend considerable time and resources developing strategic plans, often using outside consultants. These efforts typically focus on identifying and replicating best practices of other institutions, rather than finding distinctive opportunities. This results in increasing conformity across similar colleges and universities…

Significant events such as severe weather, flooding, wildfires, and cyber incidents cause serious interruptions to the capabilities within institutions of higher education (IHEs) to perform established missions and achieve strategic goals and objectives. Previous research has investigated the effects of these significant interruptive events on…

This study reviews the implications of the 2014 reporting regulation for public higher education institutions (PHEIs) in South Africa. Guided by the monitoring and evaluation logical framework model and the theory of change, the research assesses the alignment between the regulation's outcomes and practical implementation. Employing a Document…

Strategic reset is the process of reassessing an institution's strategic priorities, making changes if warranted, and assessing whether the institution can effectively engage and respond to any "zeitgeist" in the future through agility, flexibility, innovation, and responsiveness to all key stakeholders. The prerequisite for strategic…

We analyze innovation in university strategic plans to assess whether innovation is a stated priority, to what end innovation is sought, and whether innovation is a comprehensive strategy or more carefully bounded, excluding innovation opportunities. Our analysis utilized Atlas.ti software to quantify word usage and to extract and classify…

This qualitative study provides interpretations of the nature of strategic plans at small private liberal arts institutions. The study explored the concepts of innovation, entrepreneurship, and transformation detailed in the plans. This study included a specific cohort of eight United States small private liberal arts colleges with similar…

Higher education is at a crossroads. Institutions need to be increasingly adaptable to unexpected stressors while building more robust systems for assessing their students' longitudinal, multifaceted development within the context of mission-driven operations. Integrated planning is a collaborative process that meets these goals through the…

Members of the Higher Education (HE) community have embodied the spirit of designers by identifying needs and creatively responding with speed, agility and ingenuity as a direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic. While these rapid changes were required at the time of the pandemic, the lack of an innovation structure in HEIs (Higher Education…

The Maryland State Board of Education and Maryland State Department of Education are developing a multiyear Strategic Plan that will be released in three phases leading up to June 2023. The Strategic Plan will anchor the vision, mission, values, priorities, enablers, goals, and flagship programs, initiatives, and strategies to realize the…

The Master Plan launched and socialized across the state in 2019, has served as a rallying point for the Board of Regents and Louisiana around talent development. Furthermore, it has given clarity to the agency's goals and objectives. The engagement across all systems, institutions, and external partners (e.g. industry, economic development…

Community colleges play a vital role in providing access to higher educational opportunities for their communities. College completion rates for community colleges, however, have been historically low and few students graduate within a two-year timeframe. Disaggregating these data also reveals significant equity gaps in these outcomes for many…

In 2023, the U.S. Department of Education announced the "Raise the Bar: Lead the World" initiative to use decades of research and professional experience to transform public education and advance education equity. There are three focus areas: (1) Achieve Academic Excellence; (2) Boldly Improve Learning Conditions; and (3) Create Pathways…

Digital transformation (DT) is a global trend in higher education. This study set out to examine the way DT is conceptualized in the 14th five-year development plans (2021-2025) of 56 top Chinese universities. Findings from the study show that Chinese universities have embarked on the DT journey with goals mostly similar to those pursued by their…

This study examined how the role of digitalization is framed in the strategic development plans of 75 top universities in China. Findings show that digitalization as perceived by these universities features instrumentality (e-campus construction and application) and modernization (sustaining and efficiency innovations in teaching and learning), a…

The Maryland Higher Education Commission is tasked to develop and periodically update the State Plan for Higher Education. This document, the "2022 Maryland State Plan for Higher Education," is an update to the 2017-2021 Maryland State Plan for Higher Education. This 2022 State Plan is written during a time of pivotal change. The present…