Scenario planning as a strategic tool for future planning was explored. The case study showed how the Hong Kong Polytechnic University Library applied the process to draw up its preferred future, and illustrated the importance of involving all stakeholders in every stage for the shared future to be acceptable to all.

About 25 percent of faculty working in the United States will reportedly consider retiring in the next five to seven years. As one of this 25 percent, the author has been researching what she needs to know to retire. What she found initially was a lot of misinformation. To complicate matters, the world has changed over the past year, causing those…

In the last several years, the growing demand that education institutions incorporate sustainable design and construction concepts in school facility plans has created a greater emphasis on using life-cycle costing. The use of long-lasting materials and equipment enables schools and universities to avoid the unnecessary consumption of energy and…

The California Postsecondary Education Commission is directed by state law to review and comment on new academic program proposals from the University of California (UC), the California State University (CSU) and the community colleges. Program review is one of the CPEC's primary responsibilities--it coordinates the systems' long-range plans,…

Successful organizations adjust quickly and intelligently to shifts in consumer tastes, political climate, and economic opportunity. How do they do it? "The Six Secrets of Change" explores essential lessons for business and public sector leaders for thriving in today's complex environment. Fullen draws on his acclaimed work in bringing about…

A year spent studying at a university in another country, or working internationally as part of a degree in geography, should be an extremely exciting and rewarding experience. The aim of this Directions is to help students to prepare in advance so that they make the most of their opportunities. It aims to help them to set their own agenda for…

This annual report provides a summary of program planning and review activities conducted by California Postsecondary Education Commission (CPEC) during the 2008-09 academic year. During this period, CPEC staff conducted an extensive review of a proposal to establish a medical school at UC Riverside and a nursing school at UC Davis, and conducted…

The author examines whether education increases patience. Admission decisions in a public college in Mexico are determined through a lottery. He finds that applicants who were successful in the draw were more likely to study in the following years. He surveyed the applicants to this college almost two years after the admission decision was made…

Ontario needs to expand nursing education options to improve access to the nursing profession, create better pathways amongst all nursing occupations, and build Ontario's capacity to meet the province's long-term nursing needs. Ontario's colleges are capable of playing a larger role within a long-term provincial strategy for sustaining and…

In March 2009, the RAND Frederick S. Pardee Center for Longer Range Global Policy and the Future Human Condition hosted a workshop called "Shaping Tomorrow Today: Near-Term Steps Towards Long-Term Goals." The workshop gave policymakers and analysts an opportunity to explore new methods and tools that can help improve long-term decisionmaking. The…

"Spectacular error" sounds euphemistic compared to "devastating," "catastrophic," or "meltdown"--terms more commonly summoned to describe the credit crisis and ensuing global economic carnage. Whatever they are labeled, gross miscalculations on Wall Street are having a deleterious effect on college campuses across the country, with many…

Introductory gerontology courses have the potential to enhance student appreciation of aging issues. The effectiveness of such courses for informing views about individual aging is little studied. This study, using a quasi-experimental design, examines the impact of participation in an introductory course in aging on 158 undergraduate students in…

The counterintuitive approach of the world's greatest value investor, Warren Buffett, may be the best hope for colleges and universities during this recession. Buffett's time-tested philosophy of seeking value and investing for the long term remains a sound approach, even if his short-term returns have declined along with those of the rest of the…

2010 marks the 50th anniversary of California's famed Master Plan for Higher Education, arguably the single most influential effort to plan the future of a system of higher education in the annals of American higher education. This essay builds on the analysis offered in a previous CSHE research paper ("From Chaos to Order and Back") by…

Many public university systems rely on their own institutional research (IR) offices, in addition to the IR offices from their member institutions, to help conduct the work of the university system. In this chapter, the author illustrates the type of work conducted by system-level IR offices using a nontraditional data source that can be used to…