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Northwest Missouri State University

  • myNorthwest

Category 8: Planning Continuous Improvement

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8C1. What is your institution’s vision of what your institution will be like in the next 5-10 years?

Through the university and departmental environmental scanning processes, Northwest has observed three strategic challenges that will impact the University in the next 5-10 years.

  • Declining regional population
  • Increased demand for public accountability
  • Declining State funding

Northwest has developed plans, at the institutional-level and at the department-level, to address those challenges.

  • A larger student body: The REEP plan will grow the student body by 20% over the next 5 years.
  • Growth in infrastructure: New academic buildings, residence halls, and the renovation and/or demolition of existing buildings are being discussed through cross-functional teams. These infrastructure changes will be needed to support the REEP growth plan.
  • Board approved faculty and staff hiring plan: To respond to growth in the student population, the Board of Regents adopted a systematic hiring plan for the next five years.
  • More stable state funding: Northwest is working with the Missouri Council of Public Higher Education and the Coordinating Board for Higher Education to develop a state funding formula linking state appropriations to inflation and enrollment.
  • Adoption of the Voluntary System of Accountability (VSA): A current AQIP Action Project, the VSA provides stakeholders with consumer information. (Follow this link for Northwest’s college portrait.)
  • The Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE): A retired AQIP Action Project, the CIE will provide opportunities for business and research partnerships. The addition of the CIE has also allowed for curricular additions in areas such as nanoscience. Partnerships between Northwest and CIE tenants may also provide opportunities for alternative funding streams.
  • Continued development of action-oriented projects: Many retired and current action projects comprise this approach. These projects, such as the American Dream Grant, the development of the myNorthwest portal, and Building Bridges, allow Northwest to meet the needs of students and other stakeholders. These projects emerge from planning discussions informed by external feedback processes (i.e., Baldrige-based feedback reports and accreditation reports).

In addition to the challenges listed above, Northwest’s President of 25 years announced his plans to retire effective August 1, 2009. The Board of Regents has created a systematic process to hire a new president to carry on the Culture of Quality. Involved in that process are faculty, staff, student, and alumni representatives, as well as representation from the external community. 

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8C2. What are your institution’s short- and long-term strategies? How are these strategies aligned with your mission and vision? Note 1: Strategies should be interpreted broadly to reflect institutional nuances in language. Thus, strategies might refer to initiatives, directions, objectives, etc.

As described in more detail in 8P1, Northwest tracks institutional short- and long-term strategies and each department tracks short-and long-term strategies. Institutional strategies are comprised of action plans for Strategic Initiatives. (Note: Northwest has aligned its planning process with the AQIP model, so the term Strategic Initiative is synonymous with AQIP Action Project.) The short- and long-term evaluation horizons for current SIs/AQIP Action Projects follow this paragraph.

Distinctive Objective (Initiative) Key Deployment Action Plans Key Measures (Measurement Plan) Ownership Deployment Plans
Short-Term Eval. Cycle Long-Term Eval. Cycle
Bridge Gap Between HS and College Obtain funding for and launch Building Bridges proposal Funding levels  Building Bridges Planning Team 2008-09 10 years
Voluntary System of Accountability Deployment of VSA Data &  compliance with established VSA deadlines Percent of deadlines met Assessment, Information, and Analysis Fall 2008 4 years
eReader/eTextbook Pilot Program Pilot phase followed by assessment of future plans Qualitative and quantitative data from pilot studies eReader Planning Team Spring 2009 5 years

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