Volume 24 Issue 1

Tribute to Mary Chandler

An Exploration of Faculty Involvement In and Attitudes toward Strategic Planning in Their Institutions

Canute S. Thompson

This study examined the attitudes and perspectives of members of faculty towards strategic planning activities of their institutions. The study was conducted across four tertiary institutions and had a targeted sample of one hundred lecturers. A total of fifty-three (53) lecturers responded. The instrument used was a self-designed questionnaire consisting of thirty-five items, twenty-six (26) of which were on a Likert scale and the other nine focused on demographics. The study found that 75% of faculty members either agreed or strongly agreed that they are involved in strategic planning activities, while 66% agree or strongly agree that the process is meaningful. The study found a correlation of .563 between the variables ‘involvement’ and ‘meaningful’. Two factors, namely ‘use of insights from previous planning activities’ and ‘holding faculty members accountable for deliverables’ (in relation to the strategic plan) accounted for 67.1% (45.8% and 21.3% respectively) of the variation in the data, while a third factor which contributed significantly to the variation in the data relating to the meaningfulness of the process accounted for 10.1% of the variation in the data. The findings of the study suggest that faculty members can be persuaded to participate in strategic planning activities provided they are satisfied that the process is structured and purposeful and is not merely done out of formality. The findings further suggest that among the ways by which the leadership of the institution can signal to faculty that the strategic planning process is to be taken seriously are by the involvement of the leadership in the planning process and the holding of faculty members accountable for deliverables. The study has implications for how strategic planning activities are undertaken and suggest that the credibility of strategic planning activities and the plans they generate, rests largely on what they in fact accomplish.

American University Branch Campuses Abroad:  A Conceptual Model for Strategic Planning

M. Amanda Johnson

The topic of international branch campuses saturates the literature; however, little attention has been paid to the university strategic planning process for institutions setting up programs abroad. Many US universities have considered opening a branch campus in order to meet the demand of globalization and break into new student markets. Currently, the US leads efforts in establishing its brand of higher education in countries like the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, China, and Qatar. This paper considers the challenges of establishing a branch campus based on the literature surrounding American branch campuses’ successes and failures and develops a conceptual model for planning, implementation, and monitoring for those universities considering exporting their brand and academic programs abroad.

Planning For School Building Equity:  The British Columbia Experience

Glen I. Earthman

Under Section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, children of parents whose first language is French are provided separate schools and promise the same educational opportunity for these schools as the English Language schools. Because the Francophone schools have been establish long after the common schools for all students in the Providence have been, the Counceil Scholaire Francophone (CSF), which is the governing body of the Francophone schools has had a struggle finding adequate school buildings. Many of the Francophone students are in either rental school facilities or school buildings that have been abandoned by the English Language schools because they were obsolete. The parents complain that because the students are in rental facilities, long range planning is not possible. Other complaints were that the schools were old and did not look attractive and were not large enough to fully implement the curriculum. These problems and concerns lead to the filing of a complaint that the students of French Language parents were being discriminated against by the Ministry of Education. The Ministry of Education employed an expert witness to examine the complaints of the parents to see if there was a valid claim that the complaints were related to educational outcomes of students. The expert witness found that none of the parental complaints were related to research indicating the complaints would influence student educational outcomes. The initial legal complaint was adjudicated in favor of the Francophone parents and was then appealed to the British Columbia Supreme Court by the Ministry of Education. The appeal has not been settled as yet, but there are serious questions raised by the suite regarding the equity of the Ministry of Education actions.

Analysis of Educational Wastage in Public Secondary Schools in Olorunda Local Government Area, Osun State, Nigeria

A. Olatoun Akinsolu

Educational wastage is like a canker worm that has eaten deep into the fabric of our educational system. Over the years, educational planners, school administrators and educational agencies are concerned about how to reduce this state of educational system inefficiency. This paper investigates wastage rate in some selected public secondary schools vis a viz its causes and its implications on educational planning in Nigeria with particular reference to Olorunda LGA of Osun state. Two schools were purposively sampled using rural and urban dichotomy while stratified random sampling was used to select teachers and pupils of the two sampled schools. Data for the study were collected through the use of a questionnaire titled “”Wastage Rate in Public Secondary School Questionnaire (WRPSSQ)” and was administered to the teachers and the students of the two sampled schools. Findings from the study revealed that repetition was the major source of wastage in the two sampled secondary schools. The implications of this study on educational planning were made vide conclusion and recommendations in order to avert the alarming rate of wastage within the educational system. This will ascertain that the expectations of all stakeholders in turning out graduates with minimal wastage in the school system is achieved and will enable students spend only the minimum number of years expected of them for secondary education.