Colleges survive sometimes because they are able to merge with another institution (a for-profit company, another private college, a state university). The change at the College of Charleston was shaped in the 1970s, when the college did not "merge" with a state institution--it "became" a state institution, which grew.. and…

In this age of accountability, transparency, and accreditation, colleges and universities increasingly conduct comparative analyses and engage in benchmarking activities. Meant to inform institutional planning and decision making, comparative analyses and benchmarking are employed to let stakeholders know how an institution stacks up against its…

California's vast Central Valley has been called "the Appalachia of California" and "the Other California." Long neglected as either irrelevant or hopeless, the Central Valley has become the focus of government and private philanthropists who understand the growing importance of this region to the state and the nation. The…

The key challenge to academic leadership is to restructure the allocation of academic assets, particularly the organization of the faculty, in ways that better serve emerging societal and scholarly needs.

Questions that institutional leaders can ask themselves about practices and goals are presented, including those dealing with the president's role, admissions director selection, recruiting strategy, marketing techniques, communication, evaluation methods, and retention. (LBH)

The key to institutional leadership is a cohesive, knowledgeable, and dedicated staff. Presidents should allow the faculty to run the classrooms, the dean to run the year, and the vice-presidents to worry about the next year; the president's job is to be concerned about and provide for the future. (Author/MSE)

The president is the institution's chief strategist and planner, but the distinction between bureaucratic and entrepreneurial planning is crucial. The bureaucrat assumes change can be kept at the periphery of the enterprise and will not affect core purposes, while the entrepreneur assumes that change is part of the enterprise itself. (Author/MSE)

Leaders must take advantage of opportunities for change, know when to act and when not to act, have faith in their own judgment, take risks, and enjoy building their institutions. A strong institution ultimately measures a college president's leadership. (Author/MSE)

The experience of California's community colleges in coping with the crisis created by Proposition 13 suggests that there are elements in institutional finance, mission, governance, planning, decision making, and information systems that can be monitored and manipulated to avoid administrative chaos in times of change. (MSE)

The Crisis Prevention Analysis model offers a framework for simple, straightforward self-appraisal by college administrators of problems in the following areas: fiscal, faculty and staff, support functions, and goals and attitudes areas. (MSE)

Modern scientific management techniques provide college administrators with valuable planning and resource allocation insights and enhances the decision process. The planning model should incorporate assessment, strategic planning, dynamic and long-term budgeting, operational planning, and feedback and control for actual operations. (MSE)

A four-step process is outlined for colleges to use in removing planning constraints, the difficulties that decrease or hinder the effective implementation of institutional change strategies. Its use on multiple complex constraints and in coping with chaos is discussed. (MSE)

The University of Montana's University Planning Council is an illustration of the integration of the planning and budgeting process into the institution's decision-making process, with broad constituent participation. (MSE)

To overcome adversity in higher education's newly competitive world, colleges will need (1) clear purpose; (2) courageous leadership, with the abilities to plan, innovate, take risks, and inspire; and (3) a measure of good fortune. (Author/MSE)

Complex institutional problems require comprehensive and complex solutions, including such strategies as defining or redefining institutional mission, finding a market niche, planning, cutting costs and increasing income, structural change, enterprising leadership, and using existing assets and good luck to best advantage. (MSE)