STRATEGY DEVELOPMENT

One of the pillars of successful higher education institutions is to have a common strategic framework through which the entire institution operates and achieves its ambitions. This involves defining the institution’s purpose and crafting its vision, mission, values, strategic goals and objectives. It also means that the key areas of focus of the institution for a given period is well determined and aligned with its purpose, resources and the community needs. Most of these elements are often captured in an institutional Strategic Plan document which sets out the institution’s mission, vision and guiding principles and defines how the institution will meet its goals and address various challenges it may encounter for a given period of time while sustaining its position. It describes clear high level performance indicators for the institution, how progress will be measured on a regular basis how the institution can continue to build on successes from the previous planning period, capitalize on its core strengths, and effectively use resources to meet its goals. Strategic Plans are later cascaded into annual plans developed and implemented at individual schools, departments and other academic and supportive units across the institution based on resources available. Such plans tend to be more tactical and operational in nature, yet as in the case of strategic plans, they shall be regularly monitored and progress against such plans needs to be measured. CLICKS works closely with HE institutions to effectively overcome some of the most challenging areas and hurdles by articulating effective strategies. Strategies help institutions to simplify complexities including:

  1. Scale and diversity of organization;
  2. Independent culture values academic freedom;
  3. Development of performance management culture
  4. Understanding causes and effects;
  5. Complexity of strategic mission;

In addition,  HEIs need to develop clear bylaws, policies and procedures which clearly guide operations and ensure that various stakeholders understand their respective roles and responsibilities; this helps institutions ensure compliance with regulatory requirements whether internal to the institution or external (accrediting bodies, government requirements, etc.). Policies and procedures are the strategic link between the institution vision and strategy and its respective day-to-day operations. In Higher Education, policies and procedures are classified into many categories covering institutional aspects (i.e. organizational structure, governance, risk management, quality assurance, planning etc.); curriculum related aspects (initiation, development, review, assessment of programs and courses); employment related aspects dealing with faculty and staff recruitment, development, promotion, etc.; resources related aspects; technology related aspects, students related aspects covering the entire students’ life cycle from admission to graduation. The Center has extensive capability to work closely with its customers to help shape new academic institutions and expand the capabilities of existing ones. It can provide support through one or more of the following ways:

 

CLICKS offers a range of training programs supporting capacity building in the area of strategy formulation, implementation and evaluation as well as strategic planning aimed at leaders and managers working in the Higher Education Sector . This includes but is not limited to programs on: strategic thinking, strategic planning, using Balance Score Card, strategy execution, benchmarking, performance assessment among others.

All of CLICKS’s programs may be offered either as public programs which are annually announced annually by the Center (May of each year) and open to higher education professionals from across the globe or can be tailored and delivered ‘in-house’ to respond to specific needs of a particular institution. Typically capacity building programs in the area of strategy development range from a short a one- day programs to a 5 days program.

Find out more:

 

CLICKS works with universities and colleges on developing new cycles for strategic planning by conducting studies and facilitating retreats where various stakeholders are engaged, feedback and input is collected and a sense of ownership is created. It further works on developing strategic plans along with the necessary mechanisms to align these with resources and regularly assess institutional performance against the set KPIs.

CLICKS as required may engage with undertaking various studies on behalf of Higher Education Institution, this include conducting environmental scans, benchmarks, SWOTS, market researches and feasibility studies among others. For more information, do not hesitate to contact us at: inquiries@clic-cks.com

  1. Strategy formulation
  2. Full Strategic planning development
  3. Strategic Planning 'Tune Up'
  4. Development of tools and processes for monitoring the implementation, evaluation and revision of strategic plans
  5. Performance management
  6. Risk management strategies formulation faculty and staff training and development opportunities
  7. Institutional effectiveness and business process improvement
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