Strategic Enrollment Management: Core Strategies and Best Practices.

This second of a two-part series builds on the core concepts and structural considerations discussed in the first part (in the Winter 2004 issue of College and University) to identify the core strategies and best practices that characterize successful enrollment management organizations. In the last issue of C&U, I summarized the core concepts and organizational principles that form the infrastructure of successful strategic enrollment management (SEM) organizations. Core concepts identified included: * establishing clear goals for the number and types of students needed to fulfill the institutional mission. * promoting academic success by improving student access, transition, persistence, and graduation. * determining, achieving, and maintaining optimum enrollment. * enabling the delivery of effective academic programs. * generating added net revenue for the institution. * enabling effective financial planning. * increasing process and organizational efficiency. * improving service levels to all stakeholders (e.g., prospective and current students, other institutional departments, other institutions, coordinating agencies). * creating a data-rich environment to inform decisions and evaluate strategies. * creating and continuously strengthening linkages with functions and activities across the campus. The prior article also discussed organizational structures and functional alignments of SEM organizations. A variety of structural models were described from coordinator/committee structures to full blown enrollment management divisions headed by top-level administrators. Though any of these models may be effective in promoting enrollment goals, success ultimately hinges on two main factors: institutional commitment to change and the expertise of the individual leading the enrollment effort. This article builds on these foundational concepts to identify the core strategics and best practices that characterize successful enrollment management organizations. Academic Success Strategies In considering SEM strategies, there is a strong temptation to go directly to tactics. A more useful approach is to identify desired outcomes. Among the many enrollment outcomes that exist on every campus, the most prominent is student academic success. As Michael Dolence (1993) states, "it is... the curriculum, academic policy, and the corresponding choices students make to attend, persist, and drop out that drive the planning implementation, and evaluation of an institution's recruitment and retention programs" (p.9). The extent to which these issues are addressed will determine enrollment numbers and competitive positioning. Thus, this focus on academic programs and student success offers a useful organizing principle for thinking about enrollment strategies. As institutions engage the daily complexities of institutional life and face the quantitative pressures of enrollment and budget, it is easy to lose sight of their primary reason for being: enabling students to meet their educational goals. Every campus department contributes to this endeavor in some way. Many of these functions fall outside the purview of formal enrollment management structures. However, enrollment managers have a unique role in coordinating functions and bringing them into alignment with the academic mission of the university. RECRUITMENT: INITIATING THE STUDENT/INSTITUTION RELATIONSHIP Promoting academic success begins during the recruitment process. The primary goal of student recruitment is to determine student-institution fit, that is, the degree to which a student s academic preparation, educational goals, career aspirations, and personal preferences are in line with what an institution has to offer. Effective enrollment programs view the recruitment process as the initial phase of building meaningful, lifelong relationships with students for whom the degree of student-institution fit is high. …