Purpose--The purpose of this paper is to provide higher education institutions with strategies of continuing education and methods to communicate and implement these strategies. Design/methodology/approach--The balanced scorecard approach is used to implement the strategy. It translates the strategy into tangible objectives, measures and targets and balances them into four different perspectives: customer, finance, internal processes, and learning. Findings--The strategy of focus combined with the strategy of cost-efficiency is applicable for higher education institutions. These strategies can be adjusted, for example, to profitable growth in continuing education. Research limitations/implications--The balanced scorecard approach can be used widely in higher education institutions and with slight modifications in other public sector organisations. The customer perspective typically includes the desired objectives in the public sector, contrary to the private sector where it is reasonable to place finance at the top of the perspectives. Practical implications--The study also presents a useful example of how the strategy can be described using the concept of a strategy map and numerical balanced scorecards. Originality/value--It turns out that the strategies of focus and cost-effectiveness and the balanced scorecard approach, developed in the business literature, can be successfully applied in continuing education. (Contains 1 figure and 1 table.)