DRAFT by F. Deek (Chair) and T. Alvarez, E. Bishof, M. Boger, and N. Elliot (Co-Chairs)
In order to excel in the achievement of its mission, NJIT engages in strategic planning. A process of continuous improvement, strategic planning is an essential component of our innovative, entrepreneurial, and engaged community. Our process is as follows:
- NJIT’s approach to strategic planning includes selective outcomes that are collaboratively defined, empirical reports that are regularly disseminated, and stakeholder analyses that are strategically used.
- We must therefore design our strategic plan to validate the information base to support sound decision-making, analyze key areas statistically to quantify the impact of our decisions, communicate results of our initiatives to all key shareholders, and refresh the planning process based on empirical arguments.
- In turn, we must interpret the impact of our strategic plan in terms of our potential to learn, ability to manage, commitment to support, and capability to improve.
This strategy will evolve over time to help us define and articulate the priorities that make NJIT unique. Our vision for this approach is straightforward: As a public, technological research university, New Jersey Institute of Technology will prepare leaders to design the world of tomorrow through applied research, technological innovation, career achievement, and societal engagement.
The selective strategic priorities have been based on the following documents: NJIT Academic Plan, 2013-2015; NJIT Strategic Plan, 2010-2015; NJIT Strategic Enrollment Management Plan, 2015-2020; A Strategic Plan for the College of Science and Liberal Arts, 2009-2014; Albert Dorman Honors College Strategic Plan, 2013-2018; A Science and Technology for the 21st Century (2012 MSCHE Report); and Report to NJIT (2012 MSCHE Evaluation Team Report). At the present writing, these are the most comprehensive planning documents.
Careful review of these documents reveals the potential of our approach to strategic planning: to establish strategic priorities based on collaboratively identified outcomes; to create objectives based on compelling questions; to identify responsibilities of key stakeholder groups; to perform measurements that are meaningful; to use accountability processes that are clear and relevant; and to guarantee that the impact of our actions is transformative. In addition, an economic model will be created to support each initiative as assurance of fiscally-responsible financial planning. We believe that this approach will support five strategic priorities for our 2020 Vision.
To ensure that this vision is implemented, we have drafted five strategic priorities and accompanying objectives for the period of 2015-2020:
Strategic Priority 1: Institutional Effectiveness: Student Success
Objectives:
1.1 Admissions: To admit students likely to succeed at NJIT and graduate in a timely manner, from baccalaureate degree through doctorate level.
1.2 Retention: To develop retention models for each major.
1.3 Graduation: To identify information and response required to achieve and maintain designated graduation models for each major.
1.4 Professional Success: To identify life-long skills that NJIT students will need for personal and career success.
1.5 Campus Quality of Life: To identify key components of campus life leading to student satisfaction with on-campus experiences.
Strategic Priority 2: Academic Investment: Education and Research Infrastructure
Objectives:
2.1 Faculty Renewal: To hire, develop, and retain faculty excellence in strategic education and research areas.
2.2 Education Infrastructure: To maintain, renovate, and upgrade laboratory, classroom facilities, and other community spaces.
2.3 Research Infrastructure: To develop models that will allow NJIT to support research in both STEM and non-STEM areas.
Strategic Priority 3: Curricular Advancement: Integrative Education
Objectives:
3.1 Curricular Synthesis: To identify core knowledge, skills, professional practices, and the methodology for outcomes’ assessment of each academic degree that will prepare students for future personal and career success.
3.2 Curricular Mapping: To link core knowledge, skills, and professional practices to curricular-based problem solving methods at the level of the course and its syllabus, a process leading to the assessment of student learning and appropriate use of results.
3.3 Convergence: To create an environment of convergence between face-to-face and online learning for NJIT.
3.4 Milestone Experiences: To create disciplinary and multidisciplinary milestone research and industrial experiences to improve student learning.
Strategic Priority 4: Scholarship: Multidisciplinary Approaches
Objectives:
4.1 Establishment: To establish a national presence in strategic research areas.
4.2 Advancement: To advance and sustain an enduring presence in strategic research areas.
Strategic Priority 5: Global Community: Diverse Leadership
Objectives:
5.1 Diverse Research Leadership: To hire, develop, and retain diverse faculty leaders in strategic education and research areas.
5.2 Diverse Administrative Leadership: To hire, develop, and retain diverse leaders in academic and administrative departments.