Workshop Goals
1) To promote a better understanding of key trends, challenges,
possible solutions, and other innovations identified during CIC’s
Project on the Future of Independent Higher Education.
The central question of this initiative was, “How can independent
institutions respond to potentially disruptive changes in society, the
economy, and the academy without compromising the core characteristics
of independent colleges that have assured the delivery of a high-quality
education in the past?”
2) To share compelling research and resources about the
power of the liberal arts and the effectiveness of independent colleges
and universities to support access and excellence in higher education,
as gathered and distilled by CIC’s public information campaign,
Securing America’s Future: The Power of Liberal Arts Education.
3)
To provide an opportunity for presidents, other senior administrators,
and faculty leaders to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of
institutional changes, including potentially disruptive shifts, in a
collegial setting. Thoughtful discussion about the future of individual
institutions and the independent sector as a whole lies at the heart of
these workshops.
4) To provide resources that will
help participants continue the conversations begun during the workshops
with colleagues and other stakeholders on their own campuses. Resources
will include examples of mission-driven innovation in the areas of
academic programming, business models, and finance; fresh arguments for
the liberal arts; and strategies to build on recent research findings.
5) To gather and share with other CIC members information about promising innovations and effective practices.
6)
To mobilize participants to assess active steps, reconsider business
models in the context of each institution's mission, and implement
sustainable changes for the future.
Who Should Participate?
All CIC member institutions are
invited to send a team of three-to-five participants to any one of the
workshops. The workshops may be especially appropriate for institutions
that are considering new business models or other strategic initiatives
and are prepared to reexamine aspects of their mission. Teams ideally
will include the president, at least one other senior administrator
(such as the chief academic officer, chief financial officer, or vice
president for enrollment), and at least one faculty member who can take a
leadership role in campus discussions and institutional change efforts.
Expectations of Participants
Background materials, including
research reports commissioned or prepared by CIC, will be distributed
in advance. Institutional teams are expected to read and discuss these
materials prior to the workshop. The teams also should discuss how the
institution would respond to the following questions, to be addressed
during the workshop: What are the greatest challenges (and
opportunities) facing the institution? How has the institution responded
to the challenges—or how does it plan to respond to them? What
innovative approaches have already been pursued by the institution, and
how did they fare? What is the likely future of the institution if it
does not change what it is doing now? What is the most desirable future
for the institution, five or ten years from now? What are the obstacles
and opportunities to make this future a reality?
Teams will leave
the workshop with plentiful information about the effectiveness of
independent higher education, especially in supporting the educational
attainment of diverse students, with examples of mission-driven
innovation that can be adapted to their own institution’s needs, and
with the rudiments of an action plan to engage their campus colleagues
in a purposeful conversation about institutional change and the future.
All
sessions at the workshops will be confidential to encourage frank
discussion among participants; however, CIC will prepare and disseminate
a report on the themes and promising innovations that emerge from the
workshops. Institutions also will be asked to share information about
any new strategic initiatives that are launched as a result of workshop
participation.