Hi Dario
Looks like a great focus. And of course the goals are all related. You might look at program decisions as your major or first task. Once you decide which new ones to offer and how to upgrade current programs, then you can forecast enrollment for each program and then marketing strategies. The networking will be part of your marketing strategies.
Good luck
Susan
My suggestions for our committee would be
1. To develope a more comprehensive and effective marketing plan. Presently it seems to be mostly word of mouth and printed informational pieces that are given out as asked for.
2. Develop a monthly budget to help contain equipement costs.
3. Implement an instructor developement plan to help identify adjunct instructors that have the potential to progress to a lead instructor position. This would allow us to continue to provide more classes as our enrolement grows and allowing for attrition in present instructors.
4. Reach out to the local EMS community which are the potential employeers of our students by hosting meetings of local EMS chiefs as well as conferences.
5. Lastly I would recommend to my committee that the school explore a partnership with a local fire academy in order to cross market our EMS education with their fire training. The fire academies are a potential source of new student enrolement and our EMT students are frequently interested in fire training once the graduate.
Great plans, Richard. Each take upfront research on how and what you are doing now so you'll know results later. This will point to changes. If most of your marketing succss is through word of mouth, how can you increase word of mouth and bring back grads to take new programs. Your idea for instructor development program is great. The idea of developing all of your loyal staff is a way to build a great team. Reaching out to the community has so many benefits. Increased enrollment, student placement, new sources for students, assistance with career development, and more. Really impressive plans.
Good luck,
Susan
1. Develop a marketing plan using the information provided in this course. I was not aware that a 10% budget is recommended and would have thought more was needed.
2. Revamp our institutional effectiveness plan and ensure it is followed. Too often the plan is developed to meet regulatory guidelines but could be an excellent way to improve our efficiency.
3. Design a program to measure the level of readiness for our graduates to perform the necessary tasks of employment. Obviously, we ensure that they meet the minimum guidelines and are prepared for the required certification examinations; however, I believe there are local skills that can be taught within our courses that would make our graduates more desireable. For example, emergency medical technicians (EMTs) are allowed to start an IV if allowed by the medical director. If our area agencies are using EMTs in this capacity, then we would be well served to provide the training to prepare a better graduate for agencies requiring this "extra" skill.
5. Develop partnerships with hiring agencies where each fire-rescue system would be able to recruit quality students earlier than other agencies that were not participating could.
My 5 steps would be:
1. complete a 5 year institutional effectiveness plan and review occassionally with our adisory board.
2. Establish who my ideal student is.
3. Prepare and implement a marketing plan to target an deal student body.
4. Develop a budget that will support my marketing plan.
5. Continue to work on faculty development as a way to ensure quality education and student success / satisfaction.
Hi Chad
Really good plans. Here are some thoughts. Maketing directors will probably have thoughts on the 10% guideline. Some may say that for every 100 leads you can enroll 18 students. The best approach is to measure every marketing strategy for quality of lead and lead to enrollment. Inst Improvement plans are meant to be worked and customized to your school in addition to making regulatory bodies happy. Great idea to communicate with employers regularly to determine what it will take to produce work-ready grads. It will require some program modifications. But how great to be known to graduate people who can jump right in the workplace. Now the goal is to stay focused on each goal.
Best wishes
Susan
Hi Frank
Great ideas. The IEP also needs to be implemented on a regular basis. When you establish the profile of your ideal student it would be good to use the info in admissions. Also compare to your leads. Are the leads different and if yes, what does that tell you? Great idea to focus on faculty development. They are sometimes the only people the students interact with and are the face of the school. They have to be good.
Best wishes
Susan
I too would use the following model:
1)Effective marketing.
2)Creating a profile of our ideal student.
3)Careful monitoring of the budget.
4)Creation of strategies to improve our income.
5)Creation of an effective five-year plan.
Currently our marketing strategy is effective in that we draw our students for our partner agencies, we are the "next step" in a transformative process. Additionally, we already know the profile of our ideal student. The organization came into being in response to the needs of a particcular segment of the population. While the ethnic make-up of our students have become more diverse, their similarities in terms of socio-emotional needs have remain constant.
The focus of our current efforts will be effective budget strategies; income generation, an an expansive five-year plan.
Alessandra Cole-McNaught
School Director
Great Alessandra
As you look to income generation you might look at where you can generate multiple streams of income. This can be from program tuition, continuing ed tuition, sales of products, etc.
Best wishes
Susan
The top five plans that I would select to put in place are:
1)Marketing
2)Profile of prospects
3)Budget
4)Revenue/Expense Monitoring
5)5 year improvment plan
I must say that our institution implements a 3 year Institutional Improvement Plan that harbors a Faculty development Plan. After completing some of these modules I realize that the expected success has not always been achieved due to the lack of number 2 above and large amouns of money have been missused causing financial unproductivity. Also, extending the plan from 3 to 5 years puts a longer range in perspective allowing the direction of the school to be monitored with a longer term goal in view. Thank you. Julio
Hi Julio
You seem to have discovered that when you put plans in place and evaluate them you learn a lot. I'm not sure you put your plans in order. But it seems that the 3-5 year plan might best be first. PArt of that will include your marketing plans along with budget. Profiling your prospects is part of marketing. A plan does keep you focused and helps you make informed changes.
Best wishes
Susan
Each of these plans would span a time frame of five year and would roll up into one overall five year plan. I believe it out without saying that once the plan has been design and developed that it would need continually monitoring and adjustment to meet the needs and changes of our market.
1. Establish who my ideal student is now, and who that student is going to be over the next five years.
2. Identify a marketing plan to stay ahead of the curve to continually attract my ideal student.
3. Develop a budget that will support my marketing/educational plan.
4. Continue to development faculty/staff keeping them in the loop of decision make process.
5. Develop a student services/ career service plan to target students needs.
We all know happy graduates, happy employers = continually success for our schools.
HI Joshua
Looks like you have your priorities in order. Yes, important to have a plan. And then need a plan to measure how the plan is going and what changes need to be made. That helps drive the specifics. Involving faculty and staff is so important. They usually have the answers to the problems before they have occurred.
Best wishes
Susan
My top five plans would be:
-To come up with a 5year plan and put it into action. I would like to develop the plan and work towards it.
-Next I would like to figure out who are my ideal students. I need to key in exactly who would be the ideal student
-Then I can work on marketing.
-Then I can have good advertising that will bring in my ideal students to study in the institute.
-I also would like to look at my budget and revise it accordingly.
Good plans, Robert. A five year plan is essential for school development. It needs to be worked on by everyone at the school and agreed to. And then reviewed every 6 months or so to see if you are on track and if goals are still relevant. Knowing your ideal students is essential when planning marketing efforts. Of course budget is important because you need money to fund your plans. Thanks, Susan
Great question to help us summarize our next steps. As Campus Director of one college within a large group, some of the items listed from other posts are in place. I'm answering this question based on what I can control.
1. 5 year plan - create with my committee.
2. Determine ideal student.
3. Continued focus on faculty requirements and developmental plan.
4. Marketing Plan - from a local level. "Word of Mouth" adverting. Happy students + Satisfied employers = increased enrollments. Utilize Advisory Committee.
5. Student Persistence & Retention - Determine each student "touch point" from recruitment through alumni involvement. Use Career Services as the "keep the eye on the prize" to keep students engaged and moving towards their goal.
Linda,
Good idea to focus on what you can control. In doing what you do other staff can watch and learn. So you are making a difference for other members of the greater school organization. Your focus is great. Suggest you print and distribute to your Team and have them update it often. By the way, hope you have a formal alumni program. MaxKnowledge offers a course with all the how to's whether you are new to alumni or need to enhance your current program and address challenges. By the way, sorry for any delays in responding to you. I was visiting international clients and email was sporatic. Thanks, Susan
Dr. Susan Schulz
