University’s next strategic plan to align closely with BOG performance funding model


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Provost Kenneth G. Furton addresses the university community at a Town Hall meeting on Jan. 23.

Saying that the next five years are likely to be the “most disruptive in the history of higher education,” Provost Kenneth G. Furton introduced Beyond Possible: 2020, FIU’s strategic plan for the next five years, to the university community at a Town Hall meeting attended by approximately 250 people.

Chief among the takeaways: By the year 2020, FIU aims to boost its six-year graduation rate from 53 to 70 percent, improve its retention rate of first- and second-year students from 78 to 90 percent, strategically increase its enrollment to 65,000, and increase its sponsored funding from $130 million annually to $200 million annually, among other goals.

The strategic plan also includes a process to identify “preeminent programs” at the university and calls for the creation of a proposed “pipeline,” of sorts, to reach out to students at the state’s eight state colleges.

The provost’s full presentation can be found here.

“We’re calling this plan Beyond Possible: 2020 because no majority-minority institution of higher education has attained goals this aggressive relating to student success. Ever,” said Furton. “But we’ve done lots of things at FIU that no one thought we could do.”

The provost stressed that the proposed plan incorporates the feedback of many. Approximately 18 months in the making, more than 60 people were involved in more than 70 meetings. Furton also said that the plan will not be finalized and presented to the FIU Board of Trustees for their approval until March 2015. He and the president urged the university community to provide their feedback.

A fundamental difference between this plan and previous plans is the purposeful alignment between FIU’s strategic plan and the Florida Board of Governors’ Performance Funding Model, which tracks 10 performance goals and awards dollars based upon each university’s ability to do well in those areas.

“We have a responsibility to make sure that we stay on the edge of responsiveness. The funding will not arrive unless we perform, and we have to perform in a way that is even more remarkable than our fellow institutions in the state university system. Shift happens,” Rosenberg said to laughter. “And it’s happened.”

Thirty out of 50 states now use performance-funding models with their institutions of higher education, according to Furton, who called the paradigm “the new normal.” The provost announced that the university was also moving to a performance/incentive-based funding model internally.

Reaching those student success goals will require faculty buy-in and “soul searching,” said Rosenberg.

“This is a shared responsibility. No one is exempt here,” acknowledged Rosenberg. “There are some challenges, but more importantly, there are some great opportunities.”