This paper presents an empirical analysis of the Ontario-led strategic mandate agreement (SMA) planning exercise. Focusing on the self-generated strategic mandates of five universities (McMaster, Ottawa, Queen's, Toronto, and Western), we asked how universities responded to this exercise of strategic visioning? The answer to this question is…

Koichiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, asserts that education is one of the most effective instruments that society can employ in the effort to adopt sustainable development. This paper is a first effort to explore the degree to which Canadian institutions of higher education, including colleges and universities, have embraced this…

The state of higher education today is one of change and stasis. Economic vulnerability, globalization, technological innovation, and an increasingly competitive market underlie the need for change in higher education. At the same time, there are strong and stubborn forces at work supporting the status quo. Though daunting, institutions of higher…

Higher education institutions educate those who are the most talented and best able to secure the future for the next generation. This study examines an efficient strategy process in higher education and emphasises the importance of sufficient dialogue during the process. The study describes the strategy process of the Turku University of Applied…

Community college systems were established across North America from the early 1960s through the early 1970s. The new systems had two principal models: in one model, the college combined lower-division, university-level general education with technical education programs; in the other, most or all of the colleges were intended to concentrate on…

In this age of accountability, transparency, and accreditation, colleges and universities increasingly conduct comparative analyses and engage in benchmarking activities. Meant to inform institutional planning and decision making, comparative analyses and benchmarking are employed to let stakeholders know how an institution stacks up against its…

This report evaluates the extent to which Scotland's colleges have developed and embedded a culture of promoting equality and diversity effectively for all learners and staff. It considers how effectively colleges have mainstreamed equality and diversity in all aspects of their operations. The fieldwork for this report has been informed by…

"Learning on Demand: Online Education in the United States, 2009" represents the seventh annual report on the state of online learning among higher education institutions in the United States. The study is aimed at answering some of the fundamental questions about the nature and extent of online education. Based on responses from over…

Building on the main themes presented in this volume, explores their implications for institutional research. Their underlying premise is that institutional research could and should play a critical role in advancing the knowledge management paradigm. Looks at the advantages and challenges of knowledge management from an institutional research…

Defines knowledge management, its components, processes, and outcomes. Addresses the importance of knowledge management for higher education in general and for institutional research in particular. (EV)

Oberlin College in Ohio recently undertook a building-by-building survey of its entire physical plant, emerging with plans to recycle 17 campus structures. (Author)

Sources of information on the topic of academic planning are presented. (Author/MLW)

Demands from state level agencies for greater accountability, less academic program duplication, and greater cost containment have pushed U.S. colleges toward greater seriousness, and more competence, in planning. A prominent factor in greater effectiveness in planning models is integrally relating planning, management, and evaluation. (MLW)

Organizational analysts argue that formal environmental assessments should be integrated into strategic planning. Guidelines for establishing formal environmental assessment in educational institutions are presented, evaluated, and refined based on the experimental effort of the University of Minnesota. (Author/MLW)

In an effort to develop a new approach to comprehensive college and university planning, Colgate University and the American Foundation for Management Research (AFMR) undertook a joint study that involved (1) an intensive investigation of planning practices at selected colleges and universities, (2) a review of the available literature on…