INSTITUTIONAL PLANNING:

Strategic planning is widely regarded as being an essential method of safeguarding the future of colleges and universities in an uncertain world. Properly carried out, it can chart a general direction for the institution which can form the basis for decision-making at other levels. It is valuable in asserting institutional autonomy; it can build the commitment of staff to the institution; and can provide confidence to funding agencies and other external stakeholders that the institution is managing itself successfully. Corporate planning can then apply these strategic decisions to more immediate planning issues. These in turn may need to de defined as projects, and project management techniques applied to them.

The strategic plan needs to provide a framework for other types of institutional planning - about financial objectives , about how human resources will be used, about how the institution's property will be developed, about how the plan's objectives will be communicated , and so on. It should provide the basis for the institution's quality management strategy. Strategic planning often needs to be supported by an exercise in change management , to help ensure that the objectives of the planning process are understood and implemented throughout the institution.

Planning, to be truly effective, can only be carried out by the institution's managers themselves. But Universitas can help managers to develop effective strategic and corporate plans, and provide project management training and support.

We have a team of consultants with wide experience of preparing and implementing institutional plans, both as senior managers in their own institutions, and as consultants to other institutions. They are therefore aware of the practical realities of planning in higher education, understand what can be achieved, and appreciate the constraints under which managers operate.

We have advised institutions on how the process of developing a strategic plan can be organised, and on the techniques which can be used in the planning process. We have acted as facilitators in institutional examinations of their plans, and reviewed plans on behalf of external agencies.