From fall 2021 to summer 2022, the College Completion Network conducted virtual focus groups with administrators at 47 2-year and broad-access 4-year colleges with the goal of better understanding the advising policies, practices, and programs (hereafter referred to as "strategies") that colleges use to support student success.…

A discussion of the use of advisory committees in college and university administration outlines their many potential roles at both program and institutional levels, identifying reasons they are established and often underused. Issues of advisory committee effectiveness are then explored by examining several types of underinvolved and overinvolved…

It is argued that higher education should be marketing according to principles for marketing services not products. Unique features of services, implications for marketing, and application of service marketing principles to college and university recruitment are explained. Research on seven successfully marketed colleges and universities and…

An interview with Stephen C. Hall and Constance F. Towler of the Harvard University Office for Information Technology (Massachusetts) addresses issues in implementing management techniques to improve and maintain program quality. Topics include motivation, executive-level knowledge and support, specific changes made, and response and assistance…

Before colleges and universities can take advantage of the full potential of information technology (IT) to improve administration, they must be able to measure its value and justify adoption. A "return on management" methodology links IT, managerial, and organizational performance to assess management value added, thus relative productivity, of…

The experiences of three institutions (Oberlin College, Ohio; University of Nebraska; and St. Christopher's School, Virginia) illustrate how effective a carefully developed marketing scheme for planned giving can be. Staffing, budgets, average funds raised, and average deferred gifts are reported for each. (MSE)

College and university public relations professionals are encouraged to follow the example of business in managing their publications programs. Planning, marketing those plans to the campus community, involving administration, and assuming accountability are seen as key elements in publications program success. (MSE)

College employee assistance program designs demonstrate the varied needs of a workforce. Whatever the model, the helping approach remains to (1) identify problem employees through performance-related issues; (2) refer them to the assistance program for further intervention; and (3) follow up with employee and supervisor to ensure a successful…

The activity-based costing (ABC) method of analyzing institutional costs in higher education involves four procedures: determining the various discrete activities of the organization; calculating the cost of each; determining the cost drivers; tracing cost to the cost objective or consumer of each activity. Few American institutions have used the…

Five veteran college alumni directors share strategies for creating an effective association: deciding what program aspects must be measured; assessing the program realistically; listening to customers; stretching program resources to hold down cost and work more efficiently; and remembering the value of the human touch in program design and…

A survey of 83 private liberal arts colleges investigated the relationship of attainment of enrollment goals and marketing practices. Results are mapped on two grids: perceived marketing plan vs. enrollment goals and actual marketing plan vs. enrollment goals for 1985-90. Additional research on marketing orientation is recommended. Implications…

Planning can help college public relations officials make the most of their time and energy. One approach includes reviewing institutional mission and strategic plan; setting department goals; identifying and targeting audiences; establishing interdepartmental links; and setting out action, crisis, budget, and evaluation plans in writing. (MSE)

Although volunteers serve many useful functions in fund raising, soliciting gifts should be left to staff. Volunteers are hard to recruit, keep, motivate, are unreliable, lacking in expertise, and they can balk at the realities of development tasks. Development offices should carefully think through the appropriate roles for these individuals.…

Many college and university student service units consider staff development peripheral to their primary mission and not cost effective, especially in lean financial times. However, recent trends in business suggest this assumption is false, and ultimately costly. The University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, experience found development efforts empower…

Presents a typology of quality-assurance systems for higher education and evaluates the alternatives. Argues that total quality management strategies are best suited to higher education's purpose because the model is internal to the delivery of the service, continuous, and process-oriented, but notes, however, that there are deep, often…