12:30 - 6:00 p.m.
Your registration fee includes full access to all conference sessions and materials, access to the networking reception on Monday, breakfast and lunch on Tuesday, and breakfast on Wednesday, as well as refreshments and snacks throughout the conference.

 

This hour will consider such questions as: What are the current trends and disruptive forces that are impacting higher education today? What forces are particularly impactful for your campus? How might your current context and challenges inform your academic program mix and the decisions you make about new programs?

 

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Innovation is not easy within any context. Traditional modes of operation and decision-making create real barriers. In this session, you will learn some effective strategies for creating an innovative supportive campus environment. Specifically, our expert presenter will address:

• Creating an urgency for innovation and change
• Overcoming barriers that often get in the way of effective change efforts
• Looking outward for innovative inspiration and best practices

 

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You will have an opportunity to apply what you have learned as you work with others to identify your key barriers to change on your campus. You will begin to identify what factors will get in the way or impede your ability to bring new academic programs forward.

 

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Inspiration for new academic programs is readily available—if you know where to look. We will address:

• Utilizing primary and secondary market research to identify potential program demand
• Key market research resources that every provost and academic administrator should have at their fingertips
• Strategies for assessing the need and existing competition for new academic program possibilities

 

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This informal reception is your chance to decompress, have some refreshments on us, and expand your network of connections. Our programs are intentionally designed for smaller groups, so this is a great time to catch-up with attendees and speakers whom you may not have connected with yet.

 

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8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.

Your presenter will review the most critical national and international workforce trends and the potential impact for higher education. These trends will be looked at both to surface programs that are both immediately viable and to identify those that are emerging and represent areas of future potential. Specific questions to be addressed:

• What are the demographics of today’s college student?
• What will the world of work look like in 2025?
• What are the fastest growing occupations and what educational demand does this create?
• Which occupations are in decline?
• What are new educational delivery models that might be considered in response to these trends?
• What does all this mean for higher education?

 

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Following on this presenter’s previous sessions, you will be introduced to a process for developing, vetting, and operationalizing new academic programs. Time for Q&A will be included. Specific topics to be addressed include:

• Essential elements and considerations for developing new academic programs
• Important factors to consider in assessing risk and opportunity with new program possibilities
• Principles for operationalizing new programs
• Considerations for scaling and managing capacity

 

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Accreditation can be both an enabler and a hindrance to creative approaches so it’s important to think through these implications as early as possible. In this session we’ll develop a working list of issues that need to be address regarding accreditation, state authorization, and changes to your campus mission including:

• What are the accreditation implications of new programs?
• How and when do you bring accreditors into your process when thinking about something creative or non-traditional?
• How can past issues/concerns with your accreditor impact the process of developing new programs?
• How can the format of the program impact accreditation considerations?
• How do you determine the value of specialized accreditation?

 

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Bringing on new academic programs requires thinking through a host of infrastructure and resource issues. Where will the resources come from to fund these changes? How will your new programs affect space utilization and technological requirements? Did market research indicate a sufficient market to produce the needed revenue? Can the staffing changes be phased in, or are they necessary up front to operate the proposed new academic program? Have you taken the following into consideration:

• Faculty needed to support a new academic program
• Faculty reductions for program cuts or elimination
• Staff needed to move into a new strategic direction
• Budgeting for human capital to accomplish strategic change
• Classrooms and technology capacity
• Adequate parking
• A need for a current facilities utilization analysis
• Determining the need for new facilities

 

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You will continue the work you started in the previous working session and begin developing a feasibility plan for one program idea for your campus. You will have opportunity to review issues covered by presenters as they may impact the potential for success for your program.

 

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8:30 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.

Unfortunately, “if you build it, they will come” isn't a bankable strategy. Even the best designed new program can fail if a viable marketing plan isn't well crafted and effectively executed. Our expert will discuss what it takes to successfully market a new program and sustain one’s market position over time. The speaker will address:

• Building a comprehensive new program marketing plan
• Budgeting for marketing and recruitment efforts
• Staffing options for program recruitment and marketing
• Assessing the effectiveness of your marketing efforts
• Using market research to determine program viability
• Measuring demand for your new academic program

 

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New programs that are not integrated into the campus’s five-year budgeting process and properly resourced will likely flounder or never get off the ground. Tough decisions are often required to trim funding of less profitable academic programs to be able to expand programs that will improve the institution’s bottom line. This final hour will focus on:

• Tying your strategic planning and new program development to a five-year budget
• Directly linking the planning process to the budget
• Identifying program reductions and program growth opportunities to keep the budget in balance