| Chapter 1: | Africa's 21st-Century Renaissance in Higher Education: The Need for Strategic Planning |
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A Comprehensive Strategic Management Model
for Victoria Falls University (VFU)
Figure 1.1 presents a typical strategic management process for business schools. It comprises three major analytical areas: the parent institution, Victoria Falls University (see description in the chapter introduction), of which the business school is a part (area A), Victoria Falls Business School (area B), and the committee structure in the business school (area C) that facilitates plan conceptualization (via a strategic planning committee) and review and revaluation (through curriculum committees and assessment committees) to ensure student learning and achievement of learning outcomes. We review each of these phases, or areas, next.
Phase A: Victoria Falls University
Ordinarily, strategic management (which leads to strategic plans or blueprints for action on institutional goals) begins at the university level with a clear mission, vision, core values, and the major goals for attainment during a specified planning period, in this hypothetical case a five-year planning horizon lasting from 2008 to 2013. The university's mission reflects the basic purpose of the entire institution, its reason for existence. Mission statements are driven by the shared values of the institution, participants, and/or founders. The shared beliefs, values, aspirations, or guiding principles help clear a path for how the people in the institution intend to conduct themselves in pursuit of their mission and vision. Agreement on shared values is, in many respects, the foundational step in strategic management. Guiding principles or value statements are the call to action, the call to higher purpose. Examples of guiding principles typically include accessibility, academic freedom, accountability, diversity, excellence, integrity, a nurturing environment, shared governance, and student-centered learning. The vision, on the other hand, usually provides a one-sentence grand view of where the institution sees itself in the future, and positions the institution among its competitors. Vision statements, in other words, provide a conceptual bridge from the present to the future.