Fifty-five percent of new academic programs fail. Despite investing in perfectly crafted programs selected based on enrollment and labor market demand, programs still fail. That’s especially alarming given that it can cost upwards of $500k to $1M to start a new program when accounting for curriculum development, faculty hiring, resourcing, and marketing costs. We’ve written about this extensively in the past. But the real question remains: How can you provide more surety of success whether you’re developing programs in-house or collaborating with solution partners like Rize?
A few months ago, I traveled to Denver to the offices of Academic Impressions to attend an in depth workshop entitled “Innovative Strategies for Developing New Academic Programs.” (Side note: If you’re looking for higher ed leadership development and training, I highly recommend Academic Impressions.) Institutions across the country brought together their academic and administrative campus leaders to learn best practices for launching new programs and workshopped their own internal processes from program identification to accreditation to enrollment marketing over the course of three days. Despite the range of institution types represented and programs discussed, one key challenge was consistent across the board: stakeholder management.
Program launches involve cross-campus buy-in, but frequently new programs are evaluated and deployed in silos. Maybe the new program is someone’s pet project. Maybe it’s something the admissions team hears requested frequently at college fairs. Maybe it’s something a notable alum or community employer asked for. Regardless of the origin of the idea for a new program, an integrated team is needed to bring it into fruition and that team needs to be assembled sooner rather than later.
Too often, a program goes into development before the necessary team is in place, which sets it up for failure. That’s because each role on the program development team provides essential skills, expertise, and viewpoints that contribute to the foundation for success. Whether it’s the ability to assess demand, calculate economic viability, develop course content, champion it with prospective students, or hire graduates, these functions require scaffolding that begins at the conception phase of new program development even if their primary value is derived at later stages of a program lifecycle. A disjointed or disconnected team results in frustration, lack of awareness, expensive bandaids to accelerate and align timelines, and ultimately program failure.
Developing a new academic program in higher education requires input from a range of stakeholders to ensure its academic integrity, market relevance, and operational feasibility. Who owns which responsibilities varies slightly from institution to institution, but there are a handful of necessary inputs at the conception phase to ensure a program is successful. Below are the key roles and responsibilities to include on your initial strategy team.
Core value-add: Market research
Early Role in New Program Development:
Ongoing Role: Monitor registrations and declared majors to determine if targets are being met
Note: These responsibilities are sometimes assigned to Enrollment Management leaders or outsourced to solution partners like RNL or EAB. Full disclosure, given how foundational this is to program portfolio decision making, we also conduct this analysis prior to building program recommendations.
Core value-add: Financial viability assessment
Early Role in New Program Development:
Ongoing Role: Ensure program's ongoing financial viability based on actual registrations and enrollments
Core value-add: Academic expertise
Role in New Program Development:
Ongoing Role: Ensure curriculum meets academic and industry standards and update as needed.
Core value-add: Voice of the (student) market
Role in New Program Development:
Ongoing Role: Develop messaging, branding, and recruitment campaigns to grow program enrollment and champion student success stories.
Core value-add: Voice of the (job) market
Role in New Program Development:
Ongoing Role: Help students find internships and job opportunities in the field and continue creating relevant partnerships
Depending on program modality, you may need additional stakeholders present. For online or hybrid programs, IT and learning technology specialists are necessary to help with online program delivery, learning management systems, and technological needs, which could inform budgetary needs and flag any infrastructure blockers. Input from instructional designers earlier in the program development process may also be helpful for online programs. Once core stakeholders have aligned and agreed upon the development of a new program, additional stakeholders will need to be brought in over time, such as student success leaders, admissions, financial aid, and the registrar.
Getting the foundational team of experts in place early is essential to program success, because it empowers you with a more complete and accurate set of information to make informed decisions. During the program development workshop I referenced at the beginning of this post, there were countless stories of program struggles across institutions that stemmed from early misalignment or gaps in information. One costly example that has stayed with me since then came from an institution that launched a program focused on drones given the surging student and labor market demand. The program was developed and approved in a silo. By the time it was approved and ready for launch, a time that should have been exciting and the point at which the institution should have started to see a return on investment in the development of the program, it was clear the program was going to fail. Why? The enrollment team, who was brought in at the 11th hour, flagged that the program name, Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) Studies, was unclear to prospective students. A simple name change to Drone Studies for student clarity in the early phase of program development, could have saved the institution hundreds of thousands of dollars and buoyed enrollment performance.
Regular communication and collaboration among the program development strategy stakeholders ensure new programs are academically robust, financially viable, and responsive to student and market needs. Considering adding hybrid degree programs and need help assembling your team? Our team of experts can help project manage your new program development process from start to finish and help coordinate your internal stakeholders for maximum enrollment success.
