Strategic plan for increasing enrollment almost finished
Growing enrollment is a process Jean Kim has taken under her wing, and after spending a few months getting to know the University of Idaho campus, her team has developed nine planning principles and nine objectives to make it happen.
Kim, vice provost for Student Affairs and Enrollment Management, reported to Faculty Senate Tuesday that the Enrollment Management Council (EMC) has been brainstorming a strategic plan since she resumed her position in January.
EMC was created to aid President Chuck Staben’s goal of increasing enrollment by 50 percent by 2025. Kim said the plan being developed by EMC would cover the first five years of the 10-year goal.
“We have met diligently and worked very hard,” Kim said.
She said EMC has a meeting in May and hopes the team will finish the strategic plan then.
Some of the planning principles include targeting areas with capacity and demand to grow in the near term, considering “innovative, high-risk ideas to increase recruitment and capacity and soliciting information from stakeholders.”
The planning objectives EMC has developed are to improve recruitment of new full-time undergraduate students by 5 percent annually, strengthen UI’s brand, leverage undergraduate scholarships for retention and recruitment, improve retention by 5 percent annually, improve four-year undergraduate graduation rates, increase the percentage of students of color and international students, support graduate programs and research and set target enrollment goals for UI’s regional centers, as well as online distance learning.
Kim said the materials presented are a draft and the steps to complete each objective have not been fully formed.
“It’s still a work in progress,” she said.
Kim said when the plan is completed the council will get to work on implementation.
James Foster, Faculty Senate member from the College of Science, said he was happy to hear an update from EMC.
“It’s really nice to have it laid out like this before the process begins,” he said.
Foster said he liked the second planning principle that focuses on growing Moscow’s residential campus.
“We have such a gem of a campus,” he said.
However, Foster asked Kim how expansion and growth would be funded.
“It’s all of our collective responsibilities,” Kim said. “There are certain things we will be asking and tasking deans of the colleges to lead.”
Larry Stauffer, Faculty Senate member and dean for the College of Engineering, said he is interested in knowing how deans could be better utilized.
“We spend considerable resources on recruitment and retention,” Stauffer said.
He expressed concerns about a perceived disconnect between how recruitment and retention efforts are funded and what entities reap the benefits.
Faculty Senate members expressed support for online learning expansion and at UI’s non-Moscow locations.
“I think it might be appropriate to also include the communities in those centers as stakeholders,” said Wendy Couture, Faculty Senate member from UI’s Boise location.
Foster expressed concerns for growing areas without expanding space.
Kim said EMC would examine departments with the capacity to expand and have student demand.
Marty Ytreberg, Faculty Senate chair, said as he understands it, each college dean has programs in mind that could expand with minimal resources added.
Alan Caplan, Faculty Senate member from the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences, said when determining which programs could use growth, he would recommend talking to representatives from departments.
“People on the frontline often know best,” Caplan said.
Kim said moving forward, EMC plans to also look at popular programs not offered at UI, but offered at other institutions.
Katelyn Hilsenbeck can be reached at [email protected]