Colleges must manage all types of risks on their campuses every day, and none should be of greater concern than those involving students. With students at the core of their mission, higher-education institutions should minimize any risks related to student safety and satisfaction, and governing boards should establish effective policies to support…

The use of strategic long-range planning at Carnegie-Mellon University (CMU) is discussed. A structure for strategic planning analysis that integrates existing techniques is presented, and examples of planning activities at CMU are included. The key concept in strategic planning is competitive advantage: if a university has a competitive…

When new governing board leaders are needed, just attracting more trustees with leadership potential is not sufficient. Succession planning, used in industry and government, ensures a continuing flow of strong leadership. It is not a procedure, but a flexible strategy that can ensure the board's effectiveness and the institution's health. (MSE)

If marketing in higher education is oversold, it may be that it is not fully understood. Higher education can learn from marketing as practiced in the profit sector, but it needs to research and practice those aspects that are good for education and discard those that are incompatible with education's value structure. (JMD)

Colleges developing a unified marketing system embracing student recruitment, fund-raising, and public relations will encounter some classic bureaucratic problems. Some reorganization or realignment of responsibilities is imperative for a comprehensive marketing effort. Each system has strengths and weaknesses and emphasizes different goals. (MSE)

College buildings, interiors, furniture, spaces, landscaping, and equipment express what the college stands for, what it cares most about, and how it views the intellectual and aesthetic enterprise. Well-designed and well-built physical facilities, especially those that are distinctive, should be a more recognized force in any college's enrollment…

The recent appointment of experienced fundraisers to several college presidencies reflects the increasing importance of fundraising in the presidency. Boards are looking for administrators with a balanced understanding of financial management, the academic enterprise, and institutional advancement strategies. (MSE)

Recommends a recruiting planning process focusing on funnel statistics, selecting schools, training interviewers, and the campus debrief. States that recruiters must understand the needs of line managers to be effective. (MKA)

Many administrators are planning and implementing systematic marketing strategies designed to attract, matriculate, and graduate students. Most administrators prefer to shape a direction according to their institution's needs rather than to take a reactive position. A marketing action plan is provided. (MLW)

Steps taken by institutions to have a greater impact on their student enrollments are referred to as enrollment management. Organizational implications are defined and enrollment management is defined as a process that influences the size, shape, and characteristics of a student body. (MLW)

Demographic changes affecting college students, faculty, and patrons and responses to the changes are considered. For each of the three groups, attention is directed to factors influencing change within and outside the campus, options available to the campus, and strategies for responding to the demographic changes. To recruit new full-time…

Issues addressed at the conference are outlined in two introductory essays. It is suggested that marketing problems of colleges are not essentially admissions problems, but problems that involve both faculty and administrators. The marketing challenge for higher education is to define the quality and integrity of a college's educational services…

To market their institutions effectively, college advancement professionals need to understand that marketing encompasses several specific activities and begins with the customer's needs, not the institution's. The administrator must know the institution thoroughly before developing a marketing plan and be able to develop and adapt marketing…

This paper reviews the issues facing trustees of liberal arts colleges, including such external challenges as ideological criticism, college costs, national economic trends, and competition from other types of institutions. Trustees are urged to address such issues as external criticism of the institution, concerns of students and parents about…

The four cornerstones of an enrollment management program are identified: institutional commitment, strategic planning, integration, and evaluation. The Enrollment Management Task Force at California State at Los Angeles adopted a model for strategic planning that is designed to provide decision support for managing university enrollments. (MLW)