The IU Principles of Excellence

IU Communications & Marketing ConferenceJanuary 19, 2011

Susan MokeDirector of Communications

Vic BordenSenior Advisor

Overview Strengths, opportunities and challenges• an interactive task

Strategic planning in higher education and at Indiana University• History and context

The Principles of Excellence• How they came about

Implications for campus communications• Discussion

Strengths, Opportunities & Challenges

On the worksheet, (individually) identify the most important• Distinctive Strengths (internal characteristics)• Opportunities (external exigencies)• Challenges (internal weaknesses and external

threats)That characterize your campus

Discuss among your group what you have each identified, looking for common threads in the “IU Experience”

Strategic Planning Where an organization intends to go over a

pre-determined period of time How it plans to get there – what it needs to do

to get there How it will know if it got there, or if it’s on the

right path

Strategic Planning in Higher Education

Associated with rise of “managerial administration” over “collegial administration”

Seminal publication: Academic Strategy by George Keller (1983)

Public universities private enterprise Prototypical model: what a new president

initiates after an initial “listening” period Varying approaches

Common Approaches Basic

• Mission, vision, values, goals, approaches/strategies, action plans, monitoring

Issue/Goal-based• SWOT, ID priorities, strategies, update mission/vision, action plans,

operational plans Alignment

• Clarify mission, programs, resources, what works well what doesn’t, adjustments to the latter

Scenario• ID External forces, future scenarios (best case/worst case), strategies

to respond to change “Organic” (self-organizing)

• Take stock of what you are doing and the goals and objectives that underlie those programs and actions, make it more coherent, focus on learning for improvement

Strategic Planning at IU Occurs at many levels• Campus• School• Department/program

The Principles of Excellence• An emergent, university-wide umbrella

for quality, coherence and alignment

Bloomington

Recent History of Strategic Planning at IU

Add your section here

Strategic Directions Charter 1994-99 Brand administration Vision: To become

America’s New Public University

Strengths: IU’s values and traditions of excellence

Opportunities: IU’s diversity & unity

Challenges: Sustaining excellence in an era of change

Recent History of Strategic Planning at IU

Strategic Directions Organic approach 8 Taskforces: 250 IU

constituents Democratic, messy,

inefficient, complex, controversial

$25M in seed funding Strategic planning at the

campus level

Add your section hereMission Differentiation

Herbert Administration 2002-2007

A response to state initiatives

Alignment approach• Articulation of goals• Clarified/updated mission for

campuses Stimulated new strategic

planning at campus level

The Principles of Excellence

McRobbie Administration Distillation of principles

articulated in Inaugural and State of the University addresses

Vision: To be one of the great research universities of the 21st century

The Principles of Excellence Issue/Goal based Builds on key elements

of existing strategic plans

PoE Components• 6 Principles• Framework• Strategies• Initiatives• Metrics

A work in progress

PoE Metrics Goal: A few good measures for each Principle Examples• The best academic programs

Number of top ranked graduate programs at IUB and IUPUI compared to peers

NSSE Benchmarks: Academic Challenge; Active and Collaborative Learning

• Academic success and completion Degrees and certificates conferred Graduation rates On-time completion and median time to degree

PoE Metrics Examples, cont.• An Excellent Faculty

Significant Award/Recognitions Publication rate and citation impact of faculty Historical trend in diverse faculty hiring, retention, and promotion

• The International Dimension of Excellence Global Education: Title IV Language Centers, Languages taught, and

internationally related courses taught and degrees conferred International students studying at IU and IU students studying

abroad Faculty Activity: Faculty international grants, and travel;

internationally-related research and sponsored programs

Communicating with Metrics

Communicating with Metrics

Implications for Campus Communications

How do the Principles of Excellence and our campus plans align?

How can we leverage both to clarify our messages, improve public perceptions, and promote support?