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Apogee Releases Second Annual 2022 State of Higher Education Strategic Technology Planning Report

New Study Delivers Insights on How Higher Ed Approaches Strategic Technology Planning Amid Continued Pandemic Challenges

AUSTIN, Texas (Feb. 2, 2022) – Apogee, a leader in higher education managed technology services, has updated its ongoing study of higher education strategic plans with the completed analysis of 839 strategic plans of US colleges and universities. With the first study and report delivered in March 2021 and now with this update, Apogee has sought to provide higher ed leaders with a thorough understanding of the state of strategic planning and the role of technology on campuses of different sizes and in different locales. The findings are summarized and presented in the 2022 State of Higher Education Strategic Technology Planning Report, and a deeper dive into the data is available in the online interactive report.

About the Apogee 2022 State of Higher Education Strategic Technology Planning Report

Since 2020, Apogee has read and analyzed 839 higher ed strategic plans to understand the state of higher ed strategic technology planning. As of Oct. 1, 2021, only 500 institutions out of the 839 had an active strategic plan. This interactive report details the findings of these 500 active plans. The goal is to help institutions make data-driven planning decisions and tie their initiatives to technology strategies. Apogee believes that strategic planning is of paramount importance to ensure that higher education emerges from the pandemic stronger than before, with resilience to tackle the challenges that are certainly ahead.

The report focuses primarily on campuses with less than 5,000 students but includes a healthy representation of larger institutions to reference and compare strategic visions, for a 65/35 split. The company analyzed 16 campus initiatives across six main areas: technology, pedagogy, student life, student population, student outcomes, and funding, planning and governance.

“Though larger institutions have the innate advantages of more personnel and funding, we believe all institutions – especially smaller ones – need to double-down on strategic planning with a flexible goal-setting posture and aggressive technology planning that ties back to campus initiatives,” said Teresa de Onis, Apogee vice president of marketing and author of the report. “According to our research, smaller institutions are two times more likely to not have a strategic plan. Intentional strategic planning, with technology planning that keeps pace with and stays ahead of the altered environment, is fundamental.”

Insights from the Report

• The presence of technology initiatives decreased. The first study revealed that 66 percent of institutions explicitly called out technology initiatives in their strategic plans. Given the adoption of remote and blended learning modalities, it would be expected for schools to enhance their plans’ technology initiatives in 2021; however, only 62 percent of active plans in this year’s study included technology initiatives.
• Larger schools place more emphasis on technology initiatives in strategic plans. When strategic plans are broken down by school size, the disparity comes into even sharper focus: 70 percent of schools with enrollment over 5,000 document their plans for technology innovation and infrastructure, while only 54 percent of schools with enrollment under 5,000 document these plans.
• The gap between pedagogy and technology widened over time. Pedagogy initiatives increased alongside technology initiatives from 84 percent prior to 2020 to 88 percent afterward. While the increased focus on pedagogy planning since 2020 aligns with the increase in remote learning adoption, the inverse technology investment relationship suggests schools may either be unprepared for a future of blended, multimodal learning or expect a return to normalcy soon.
• Institutions are investing time and resources in preparing students for the future of work. Specific program areas that drive pedagogy initiatives, such as new program development and curriculum revision, increased by 18 percent and 15 percent, respectively. In addition, the study found a greater emphasis on career placement in plans created after 2020 – 52 percent of plans in the new study versus 42 percent in the year prior, suggesting that return on educational investment is top of mind.
• Institutions may be neglecting residential living improvements. In plans created before 2020, 38 percent of institutions showed a focus on improving residential living, but this number dropped to 25.6 percent in plans created after 2020. This could pose an issue for schools in the future if improving residential life on campus is not a strategic planning priority.

“As the statewide leader advocating for private, non-profit colleges in North Carolina, NCICU was pleased to be the first Apogee partner to host a webinar to deliver these insights to our colleges and universities to guide them in their strategic planning,” said Hope Williams, president of the North Carolina Independent Colleges and Universities. “The Apogee State of Higher Education Strategic Technology Planning Report reveals that initiatives such as student outcomes, pedagogy, student life, and planning and governance all rely on an underpinning of technology. The data compiled by Apogee can enable institutions of higher education to benchmark against other peer institutions to inform their strategic planning process.”

About Apogee

Established in Austin, Texas, in 1999, Apogee is a leading provider of managed technology services that enable colleges and universities to innovate to enrich the campus experience and foster student vitality. Uniquely positioned to serve higher education, Apogee supports a community of more than one million students and administrators at over 400 colleges and universities nationwide. The company’s comprehensive managed services portfolio includes managed campus networks, residential networks (ResNet), campus engagement, and HDTV and streaming video. Visit Apogee at apogee.us.

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Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education (CSSHE) |
Société canadienne pour l’étude de l’enseignement supérieur

Date for Release: 29 September 2021

Re: Statement of Commitment to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action from the Board of Directors

Acknowledgement
As the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education’s (CSSHE) (“Society”) Board of Directors, we commit to engage our members and our communities, to bear witness to the past and to the present, and to claim responsibility for taking renewed actions already identified by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. As scholars and practitioners in higher education, we are conscious of our unique position and our capacity to enact and influence change. We also recognize that there are limitations to many of our current perspectives, and that demonstrating cultural humility and openness to listen to Indigenous voices is critical to moving forward.

In recognition of the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, we are announcing our
commitment and our intentions.

Our commitment
We will, in the coming months, bring together scholars, professionals, administrators, and students, along with Indigenous representation, to create an action plan for our scholarly association related to the TRC Calls to Action on Education, which higher education has a role, consistent with the commitments of our Society and our Strategic Plan. This will include:

• Reviewing opportunities to provide members with new supports or services to enhance their professional practices, such as for administration, teaching, research, or service;
• Critically reviewing our own Society’s processes and norms;
• Creating opportunities to foster, support, and celebrate Indigenous voices in all areas of our Society, including scholarship;
• Building an engaged higher education community dedicated to the multi-generational journey towards reconciling Canadian higher education as a field of practice and of study;
• Bearing witness as a Society, creating space for inclusive national discussions through our conferences to advance the projects of inclusion, reconciliation and decolonization, Indigenization, and, through the journal, gathering and disseminating new knowledge on the transformations necessary for reconciliation.

Through a consultative process, we will endeavour to understand what all our members’ needs are in terms of enacting reconciliation in their practices, and to listen to what Indigenous members’ vision is for a more inclusive and responsive higher education community.

With these actions we aim to deepen our understanding of equity and inclusion in Canadian higher education, to challenge and inspire policymakers, to shape the education of future scholars, professionals, and administrators, and to further expand the community of our Society.

– End of Statement –

Background to CSSHE
Through the collective and collaborative work of its members, CSSHE is the leading scholarly society for Canadian higher education as a field of study and practice. Our object of study is the Canadian higher education sector, its institutions, its people, and its processes. Our membership includes scholars, professionals, administrators, and students, who investigate and operate within the higher education sector. Our platforms include an annual meeting of the Society at the Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities, and the Canadian Journal of Higher Education to help us connect people, places, and ideas.

CSSHE is a bilingual network of members who advance the research, scholarship, and practice of higher education in Canada. In order to accomplish this, we disseminate, recognize, and reward the research and scholarly work of our members through various platforms, including an annual conference and a scholarly journal; build a connected and engaged higher education community within the CSSHE membership; and enhance member capacity through resources, professional development, and collaboration within and beyond CSSHE.