Category: Blog

Retention Strategy: What Holds Us Back?

by Elizabeth Ross Hubbell (opens in new tab)

Prevailing views on retention and student success have evolved significantly — but often, our practices lag behind. To help close the gap, we interviewed several of the foremost experts on student retention, individuals who have made a demonstrable difference at their institutions and who also facilitating our annual Developing a Comprehensive Retention Plan conference. Here is what W. Kent Barnds, vice president of enrollment, communication, and planning at Augustana College; Veronica Hipolito, dean of student services at Coconino Community College; and Margot Saltonstall, director of analytics & assessment for enrollment management & student affairs at Northern Arizona University, have to say about where institutions should be shifting their thinking — and their efforts — to support student persistence and completion. Question #1: What Holds Us Back? Elizabeth Hubbell. What do you think holds institutions back from pursuing more comprehensive retention planning? What are the missed opportunities if efforts remain siloed? W. Kent Barnds. Too many institutions are reactive rather than proactive. Too many spend most of their energy related to retention in analyzing data after the fact and asking “Why did that happen?” I also think that too many colleges don’t really understand that a comprehensive retention plan requires that they consider […]

Infographic: How to Budget for Innovation

We hope you will share this infographic with your colleagues to start some critical conversations on campus. (Click image above to see a larger version) Learn More For more from Art Kirk and other innovators among college and university leaders, read our complimentary paper Small but Mighty: 4 Small Colleges Thriving in a Disruptive Environment! See Upcoming Events for Business Officers

Is the International Enrollment Boom a Rising Tide that Lifts All Ships?

Series: Changing How We Understand the Market In this new series by Jon Boeckenstedt, we analyze current enrollment and demographics data, uncovering stories that challenge how institutions often understand their marketplace—or that shed new light on emerging trends. We want to encourage a deeper look at the implications of today’s marketplace data. We hope that you will share these stories across your institution and use them to start critical conversations to drive not only enrollment strategy but discussions of curricular offerings, student support, and course design. While we’ll highlight findings and stories worthy of closer attention, each article includes an easy-to-use Tableau dashboard that you and your colleagues can use to drill deep in the data yourself. Jon Boeckenstedt (DePaul University) It may be time to challenge some assumptions about the international enrollment boom. Sit in on any discussion about enrollment in America’s colleges and universities, and it won’t be long until someone brings up international enrollment. The US continues to be a strong attractor of talent worldwide, despite our own struggles domestically; and perhaps our biggest export—American culture—can be seen as a leading cause of the boom in international enrollment. Of course, a big part of American culture revolves around […]

Why Good is Still the Enemy of Great for Most Colleges and Universities

by James E. “Cid” Seidelman, Ph.D. (opens in new tab)

Series: Costs Down, Quality Up Historically, initiatives to improve quality have also meant added cost—smaller class sizes, more faculty who conduct research, etc.—but this is no longer a sustainable model for all institutions. What are the innovations that can actually drive the cost to educate a student lower while driving critical outcomes like student success and completion higher? This series offers provocative questions that challenge the cost-quality paradigm and the old ways of managing institutional strategy and growth. Why Good is Still the Enemy of Great for Most Colleges and Universities Many small private colleges and universities knowingly or unknowingly are what could be called high-risk institutions. They lack huge endowments, a large reservoir of student demand, significant differentiation in the market, and high brand value. Many of these institutions are either implementing or contemplating a significant innovation and change strategy to address challenges related to a declining value proposition, a lack of differentiation, budgetary problems, and/or the development of new programs and markets that provide enrollment and revenue lifting power. These are the colleges and universities that most need to utilize a data-driven and evidence-based approach to culture, process and change. It is possible to turn the threats they face into […]

Prioritizing Team Chemistry Over Individual Performance: What Higher Ed Can Learn from Athletics

by Martin Klubeck (opens in new tab)

In higher education, as in other sectors, managers tend to prioritize individual talent over team chemistry. This is a mistake. Consider a sports team. The individual talent of the star players isn’t enough to ensure victories for the team. The best players have to do more than just score points, block shots, or play great defense. If you watch any sport and you listen to the announcers, you’ll find a recurring concept discussed. The very best players are judged not by their individual abilities, talent, or statistics, but by how much better they make their teammates. The best quarterbacks make their receivers, running backs, and even offensive linemen better. The best safeties make their defensive compatriots better. The best point guards make their teammates better. The mark of the truly great player is that she makes her teammates better. In your office, at your college, or at your university, this means your “star players” have to do more than get along with their colleagues; they should also positively affect their abilities and attitudes. They have to lift the productivity and effectiveness of the entire team. When you realize this, it has practical implications for who you promote (and why), for how you approach […]

Engaging Women in Philanthropy: Practical Ways to Shift Our Approach

Series: Creating the Conditions for Support Everyone is trying to raise more money. Rather than simply suggest the next tactic that can boost giving in the short-term, this series offers a more intensive look at the strategic thinking that drives philanthropic support: Why do donors give? How do institutions strengthen their core and emphasize initiatives worthy of support? How do we align strategic plans, strengths, and advancement strategy to create the conditions for ongoing and sustained support? In this series, distinguished current and past chief advancement officers apply their most innovative and creative thinking to this question. Also in this series:Why Donors Give: It’s Not What You ThinkMore than Dollars: How Many Opportunities are You Missing with Your Alumni?Checklist: Questions the Governing Board Must Ask Before Launching a Campaign by Matthew T. Lambert, William & Mary This article at a glance: It is imperative that we first engage women meaningfully in the life of the university. From there we can develop a strong pipeline of women leaders so that we ultimately see great increases in philanthropy. Our mantra is grow engagement, grow leadership, grow philanthropy. Put simply, nearly half of the nation’s top wealth holders are women, they are the […]

Evaluating Your Alumni Relations Program: 3 Levels of Metrics

Are your alumni relations metrics comprehensive? In this excerpt from our Measuring and Evaluating Your Alumni Relations Program recorded webcast, Ray Satterthwaite, president of Engagement Analysis, Inc., describes a three-tiered approach to evaluating alumni relations: Satterthwaite suggests that while alumni relations offices often have some attitudinal outcomes, such as increases in engagement and pride in the institution. Tracking attendance at an event, for example, doesn’t necessarily tell you whether that experience had a positive impact on an alum’s relationship with their alma mater. “We have to measure all three of these things,” Satterthwaite suggests, “to know how our alumni relations programming is truly performing”: Operational Metrics Is your program properly resourced? Is it meeting the needs of its participants? Transactional Metrics Is there participation? Is it growing? Is your programming producing additional benefits (like gifts)? Attitudinal Metrics Are participants satisfied? Does the programming enhance their relationship with their alma mater? Does it deepen their pride? If you were to organize your own alumni relations metrics according to this rubric, where would the bulk of them fall? What aren’t you measuring as well? Find out more in the recorded webcast, Measuring and Evaluating Your Alumni Relations Program, available on demand for you and your shop. In […]

More than Dollars: How Many Opportunities are You Missing with Your Alumni?

by Ron Cohen (opens in new tab)

Series: Creating the Conditions for Support Everyone is trying to raise more money. Rather than simply suggest the next tactic that can boost giving in the short-term, this series offers a more intensive look at the strategic thinking that drives philanthropic support: Why do donors give? How do institutions strengthen their core and emphasize initiatives worthy of support? How do we align strategic plans, strengths, and advancement strategy to create the conditions for ongoing and sustained support? In this series, distinguished current and past chief advancement officers apply their most innovative and creative thinking to this question. Also in this series:Why Donors Give: It’s Not What You ThinkEngaging Women in Philanthropy: Practical Ways to Shift Our ApproachChecklist: Questions the Governing Board Must Ask Before Launching a Campaign If Congress passed a law tomorrow making fundraising illegal, would you still care about your alumni? I asked this question to alumni directors and chief advancement officers across the country as part of a research project in 2011. Over the last 75 years, colleges and universities have communicated to alumni almost singularly that the most important thing they can do to support their alma mater is give money. But increasingly, this single focus […]

Online Learning in the Middle East: One Chancellor Speaks

by Daniel Fusch (opens in new tab)

Recently I had the opportunity to attend several speeches by Dr. Mansoor al Awar, the chancellor of Hamdan Bin Mohammed Smart University (HBMSU) in Dubai, the Middle East’s first online university, founded in 2002. Dubai’s higher education model is very different from that of the U.S., yet there are lessons to be learned from the success of the region’s first e-university. Educators in Dubai feel the pressure of time keenly, and faced with a geographically disparate population and significant challenges to access, institutions like HBMSU are intentional in innovating with modes of instructional delivery and alternative credentialing. Dr. Mansoor explains the situation: “My dream is to offer education to all 450 million people in the Middle East. That is the HBMSU vision. There is 40% illiteracy in the Middle East. But even the illiterate know how to use this smartphone. Using this mobile device, I can get them access to the knowledge they need. But we need to accelerate the pace. There are 17.5 million children in the Arab world who are out of school; 3 million of them are Syrian refugees. If we rely on the traditional model of education to get them caught up, it will take us […]

Why Donors Give: It’s Not What You Think

by Jim M. Langley (opens in new tab)

Series: Creating the Conditions for Support Everyone is trying to raise more money. Rather than simply suggest the next tactic that can boost giving in the short-term, this series offers a more intensive look at the strategic thinking that drives philanthropic support: Why do donors give? How do institutions strengthen their core and emphasize initiatives worthy of support? How do we align strategic plans, strengths, and advancement strategy to create the conditions for ongoing and sustained support? In this series, distinguished current and past chief advancement officers apply their most innovative and creative thinking to this question. Next in this series:More than Dollars: How Many Opportunities Are You Missing with Your Alumni?Engaging Women in Philanthropy: Practical Ways to Shift Our ApproachChecklist: Questions the Governing Board Must Ask Before Launching a Campaign Given that annual alumni support nationally has been declining for 22 years and that less than one in ten alumni are currently giving back to their alma maters, it is clear that our core practices and the philosophies that underpin them need to change. In short, we need to elicit more and solicit less. And foremost among the thoughts we should be eliciting is why our alumni give to […]

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