Strategic Enrolment Management: What to Think About
Posted on Friday, May 13th, 2022
- A Strategic Enrolment Management Mind-Set
For strategic enrolment management to work well, it must be aligned with the college’s strategic plan, mission and vision. Led by the senior leadership team at the College it is a process that involves short and long-term planning, but at its best it is nimble, fluid and student centred.
Many people think of student recruitment when they hear the term strategic enrolment manage
ment, but there is so much more to it. When at a mature state, strategic enrolment management is about creating a relationship with students through their entire journey with the college, from the prospect stage to becoming an alumnus who stays connected with the college.
When we look at strategic enrolment management through a wide lens, we see that there are dozens of touch points with students along their Algonquin College journey and so multiple employees contribute.
- Contributing to Strategic Enrolment Management at all levels of the college
People often talk about silos within organizations that prevent these operations from achieving their goals and objectives. That criticism has often been levelled against higher education institutions. Strategic Enrolment Management is a framework designed to bring all areas of a school together to help the College achieve its optimal enrolment.
It requires strong long leadership and a commitment to enabling all areas of the college to contribute to the cause, but in some cases those contributions are not obvious to employees. While an employee may not be attending strategic enrolment management meetings, they can make a difference through their day-to-day work.
Here are a few small examples. College employees often joke about how food can be a significant motivator to get students to participate in an activity on campus. It’s true! So, when our Food services teams at our campuses prepare great food with lots of options for our students, it contributes to making our campuses an inviting place for students to be.
The same thing applies to the cleanliness of our buildings. When our janitorial and maintenance teams ensure that our campuses are kept neat and tidy, it creates an environment that students want to enjoy. That contributes to the overall mental health of our learners and keeps them connected to our campuses and the people who work in them to support student success.
So you don’t need to be at the strategic enrolment management table to make a difference. Through your day-to-day work, you are contributing to the College’s effort to recruit and retain students.
- An Enrolment by Design
The College has strategic priorities such as Truth, Reconciliation and Indigenization. When strategic enrolment management involves the entire institution, it enables the College to achieve its strategic objectives by building an enrolment by design. This means, setting targets for groups of students that are underrepresented within the college and developing strategies to become a more inclusive College.
The same approach can be used at both a college wide and program level to address equity concerns, such as attracting more women or men to programs that have historically attracted only a single gender, or through diversification of the college’s international student population.
Creating an enrolment by design can be challenging, but strategic enrolment management is a door opening to ultimately fulfill the college’s mission and vision.
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- Strategic Enrolment Awareness