A Plan Built on Community Engagement
The strategic planning process was grounded in community engagement. We began with a series of early focus groups to answer the questions of why a higher education strategic plan is important and what it should accomplish. From there, a survey of a broad group of stakeholders, including educators and staff throughout the P20 system, students, business leaders, community organizations, and others, received nearly 10,000 responses identifying priorities for the strategic plan to address.
As the Board outlined three goals built on this input, additional focus groups involving 170 people were held regionally and for specific stakeholder groups to identify opportunities and barriers to achieving the goals. Then, the Board convened a 37-person Advisory Committee to shepherd the strategy-development process, engaging nine Design Work Groups of 200 stakeholders, including Board members of the IBHE, ICCB, ISAC, institution trustees, presidents, faculty, staff, community organizations, advocates, philanthropy, and other experts, to develop detailed recommendations.
Draft documents were posted on the IBHE Strategic Planning website and open for public
comment. Two virtual Town Halls were held to receive public comment on the draft plan.
Throughout the process, the Board held five meetings to discuss progress on the Strategic
Plan and accepted public comment at each.
Additional information on the engagement process is included in the Appendix.
