home
/
governance
/
key governance functions
/
strategy and measuring performance
/
the strategic planning process
The Strategic Planning Process
There is no single approach to strategic planning, and different institutions plan in different ways. Although planning will be undertaken by senior officers, governors will need to make themselves familiar with their own institution's strategic planning process, and the associated monitoring and resource allocation arrangements. Probably the most useful source for governors is the
HEFCE good practice guide for institutions (Report 00/24) on strategic planning. Most of its content applies to all UK institutions independent of jurisdiction.
Strategic or corporate plans seek to bring together and integrate other institutional plans, for example: financial strategies and plans; estates strategies; information strategies; human resource strategies; and different types of academic plans, including teaching and learning strategies, quality enhancement plans, and plans for enhancing the student experience. In some institutions the term 'corporate plan' is used as a synonym for the strategic plan.
Each of the four UK higher education funding bodies has slightly different requirements for institutions in terms of submitting and monitoring strategic plans. For more details see funding body requirements.
HEFCE Report 00/24 identifies the following three stages as the basic components of a strategic planning process:
Such a process typically leads to outputs which include:
- A long term strategic or corporate plan.
- An annual operating statement or plan which distills the actions required in the year ahead.
- The actions necessary to effect implementation.
- Monitoring reports and other forms of evaluation which enable progress to be reviewed. Assessment will usually be made against targets or performance indicators (both quantitative and qualitative) that have been set for all main activities.
There are numerous approaches to planning, and some - but not all - are contained in the following diagram reproduced from HEFCE Report 00/24. This identifies the elements of planning, and governors should be confident that adequate data is available should they need to see it for each of the cells in the diagram:
The diagram suggests that planning involves four main processes: scanning, analysing, generating ideas, and enabling. Each of these processes can be undertaken in a number of ways and through various techniques, for example environmental scanning and a rigorous analysis of an institution's existing portfolio. Planning officers should be able to provide more information on how each of these steps is interpreted within individual institutions.
Although effective planning is essential, it may suffer from a number of problems which the governing body should seek to address if they occur. These include:
- The danger of lip service being paid to planning by governing bodies, particularly when they have confidence in the chief executive. This may mean that when a problem that should have been foreseen occurs it may be too late to tackle it. If governors are to get involved in planning at an early stage it is important for the planning process to have a clear timetable.
- The complexity of planning may mean that it becomes a paper exercise divorced from the reality of institutional life, sometimes with the plan being largely unknown to staff.
- In the turbulent environment of today there is a danger that an over-reliance on an existing plan may mean an institution failing to move quickly enough to seize opportunities when they arise.
- The perception that planning is something done to keep the funding bodies happy rather than to meet institutional needs.
<<Return to previous page To next page>>
