Strategic Planning in Higher Ed: A Practical, Cultural, and Political Guide

Every college and university depends on strategic planning to remain relevant, adapt to societal changes, and ultimately proper. Budgets, facilities, fundraising campaigns, hiring decisions, new academic programs, research agendas, student support, strategic initiatives, and crisis management all begin with a plan. Yet even the most carefully developed and detailed plans can falter when they collide with the realities of campus politics, competing priorities, leadership turnover, and institutional culture. In Strategic Planning in Higher Ed, David D. Perlmutter and Hesham El-Rewini offer an insider's guide for navigating the complexities of planning in today's colleges and universities.

Rather than presenting planning as a purely technical exercise, they examine the human factors that determine whether plans (and planners) succeed or fail. Through real stories, case studies, research, and decades of leadership and consulting experience, the authors show how communication, trust, governance, organizational culture, and shifting political landscapes shape every stage of the planning process. They also address the growing challenges facing higher education leaders, including demographic change, financial pressures, public scrutiny, campus conflict, and crisis management.

Written for faculty serving on planning committees, program heads, center directors, department chairs, deans, provosts, presidents, governing boards, and aspiring academic leaders, this book offers realistic guidance for developing plans that are both realistic and resilient. Whether readers are leading institutional strategic planning, managing change within a department, or preparing for the unexpected, Strategic Planning in Higher Ed provides the tools to make thoughtful decisions in an increasingly uncertain environment.