Beyond the Horizon - The Higher Learning Commission

Beyond the Horizon
The HLC Strategic Planning Process
March, 2015
The Process
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
Board Task Force on Strategic Planning
Survey to membership
Review of external trends by staff
Listening sessions at the conference
Follow-up conversations and feedback
Draft to Board, October 2015
Final plan to Board, February 2016
The Sample Trends
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
Innovation
Governance
Resources
Demographics
Technology
Sample Trend: Innovation
•  Today’s “disruptive change” is not incremental
or incidental, it is revolutionary and is seemingly
moving at a faster pace than in the past. It
challenges the very role and value of higher
education now and in the future.
Society for College and University Planning,
2014
Sample Trend: Governance
•  New reports show that Boards must hold
themselves accountable for their own
performance by modeling the same behaviors
and performance they expect from others in
their institutions.
Association of Governing Boards, 2014
•  The role of tenure in higher education is being
challenged at our institutions.
HLC Strategic Plan Survey of Membership, 2015
Sample Trend: Governance
•  There is a growing public desire to make
accreditation reports about institutions available
to the public.
•  There is continued discussion regarding
reconstituting NACIQI as a committee with
terminal decision-making authority and a staff.
National Advisory Committee on Institutional
Quality and Integrity (NACIQI), 2015
Sample Trend: Resources
•  The financial health of institutions is a greater
challenge than ever before in higher education.
•  Providing access and affordability is continually
challenging institutions.
•  The disinvestment by the states in higher
education is both troubling and de-stabilizing to
institutions.
HLC Strategic Plan Survey of Membership,
2015
Sample Trend: Demographics
•  Trends are showing that the new alternative
providers of higher education have been
enrolling significant numbers of students and
may be on their way to serving as a major
means of undertaking some postsecondary
experience, either augmenting or substituting
for a more traditional experience.
Council for Higher Education Accreditation,
2014
Sample Trend: Technology
•  Large and private doctoral institutions are
paying more attention to more technologies
than other institutional types. Institutional
approaches to technology – whether early
adopters, mainstream or lagging – also
influence the technology selected in the
rankings.
EDUCAUSE, 2014
Implications for HLC
•  What are the implications of these trends for
accreditation, specifically the Higher Learning
Commission?
•  How do we need to respond to these trends as
a Commission?
•  What current practices are in place that support
responding to these trends?
•  What needs to change?
The HLC Strategic Plan
•  The plan will guide the Commission and our
hundreds of volunteers in the next 3+ years.
•  It will help prioritize the many demands of
accreditors:
•  Serving our members
•  Responding to other members of the Triad –
the federal government and the states.
•  Responding to the public’s growing concern
about the cost and value of higher education.
Next Steps
•  We need to hear from you in our listening
sessions.
•  You can continue to be proactive with your input
and feedback.
•  Together, we need to advocate for higher
education and the value of accreditation.
•  In all cases – our work is for the most important
stakeholder – the students.
For More Feedback
•  Drop off any cards at the Registration or
Information Desks
•  Send any comments to:
strategicplan@hlcommission.org.