Strategic Planning

Why Strategic Planning?

Ferris State University is an exceptional institution of higher education that has a long successful history of meeting the needs of students, employers, and the State of Michigan. As an institution we pride ourselves on our focus on active student learning, the quality of the learning that takes place at our institution, our success at placing students in careers, our responsiveness to employers and other stakeholders, the quality of our many services and facilities, and much more. This quality has been achieved and sustained by on-going planning.

Like all institutions Ferris faces changing circumstances, new challenges, and future opportunities. The strategic planning process is intended to help us review our values and mission, re-shape our vision, determine our goals for the future, and decide on how we want to implement those goals through initiatives in ways that insure accountability. We also have the opportunity to work to make our existing planning processes as effective as possible. It has been several years since the last time we engaged in a university wide strategic planning process. It is time to work together as a university to set the direction for Ferris’ future.

What is Strategic Planning?

Strategic planning process is one engaged in by all institutions of higher education and mandated by the Higher Learning Commission. Strategic planning allows the institution to set its major long term goals to meet the challenges of the future and to develop those goals through concrete initiatives. Strategic planning should not be confused with operational planning where departments and programs set their individual goals and set action plans. Rather strategic planning establishes the broader direction of the institution as a whole that can then guide more localized action plans. As part of the strategic planning process, institutions identify the driving forces in society that they must meet, the planning assumptions that they will rely on, the core values that will guide their decisions, and the features of distinctiveness and competitive advantage which distinguishes the institutions from others. The strategic planning process also involves reviewing an institution’s mission statement and revising it as necessary, establishing a vision statement that explains who the institution wants to become, setting the goals that will direct the institution, and determining the initiatives that will achieve those goals within the available resources.

Who will guide the strategic planning process?

This planning process will be steered by the Strategic Planning and Resources Council that includes a wide cross-section of the university. The Distinctiveness Task Force will draw on ideas suggested from the university to identify the things that make Ferris stand out when compared with other institutions. The Governing Ideas Task Force will help focus the core values, review the mission statement, clarify the vision for the institution, and write the goals. They will do this work with the input from the Strategic Planning and Resources Council and the university community.

What is the involvement of the university’s many communities in this process?

All the work of planning will be presented to the university and other communities through a series of stakeholder forums where the work of planning will be open for review, comment, addition, and revision. There will be open forums and the opportunity to respond on line. The process will be transparent, involve many communities concerned with the future of Ferris, and be responsive to those communities. The participation of everyone is vital to craft the best possible future for Ferris.

We look forward to wide participation in this exciting opportunity to forge the future of a strong, vibrant, and successful Ferris State University.