Making the Academy Market-Smart

Students are increasingly considering academic program when searching for colleges, but academic program planning rarely prioritizes student demand trends. Discover 13 practices to hard-wire the consideration of enrollment trends into academic decision-making.

To ensure academic programs maintain their relevance and enrollment, institutions must consider market demand when assessing performance, holding academic programs accountable for serving the academic and career needs of today's prospective students. Despite its importance, few institutions prioritize enrollment performance in academic program planning. This study details proven-effective approaches for embedding enrollment trends and institution-wide priorities into academic decision-making—elevating enrollment management as a key player in academic program planning, review, and new program launch processes. The practices are oriented around the following objectives.   Download the study   The case for embedding enrollment priorities into academic decision-making To better signal value and relevance to students, institutions must bring the voice of the market into academic program planning, design, and review. This study shares 13 practices to hard-wire the consideration of enrollment trends and institution-wide priorities into academic decision-making. Read the study overview on page 9. Grounding program targets in market realities As students prioritize career concerns in choosing institutions and majors, universities struggle to balance sometimes dramatic shifts in enrollment across programs. Without actionable data on unused capacity and shifting student preferences, academic leaders fail to allocate resources toward growth. Align academic program planning to institutional priorities by providing academic leaders with actionable program-level enrollment and capacity data. Learn more on page 19. Practice 1: Enrollment-focused program reviews (p. 23) Practice 2: Market-mission growth forecasts (p. 26) Harnessing the voice of the market to drive enrollment growth Under- and over-enrolled programs tend to receive a disproportionate share of resources, diverting…