Strategic planning and cultural considerations in tertiary education systems: The irish case

Change has dramatically confronted higher education in many countries in the last decade. Taking Ireland as an example, changing demographic trends, dwindling central exchequer support and rapid technological change have affected colleges. This change has brought with it increasing demands for more politically sophisticated priority setting and a hard - nosed reallocation of resources. Additionally, the very real need for academic strategic planning has gained currency amongst a very large number of Irish colleges. The very large number of mission statements currently emanating from colleges in Ireland provides evidence of this. Evidence from other countries, most notably the USA and England, suggests, however, that academic strategic planning has met with mixed success. Many reasons could be advanced for this, including the absence of clarity of objectives for educational organisations comparable with the 'for profit' sector and the nature of academic culture. The central hypothesis of this paper is that the greatest determinant of success in the collegial change effort is the ability of academic leaders to simultaneously infuse a vision of their colleges' future across the college and to build a strategy supportive culture.