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Pillar 3

Pillar 3: Make OU’s Excellence Affordable and Attainable

Strategy 1:
Grow revenue to improve affordability and accessibility.

 

Tactic 1: Honor our fundamental commitment to serve Oklahoma by being a place of opportunity for students from all backgrounds across the state.

Tactic 2: Grow annual enrollments for our in-person freshman class by 2% per year for the next seven years.

Tactic 3: Expand OU’s transfer student population by formalizing relationships with other in-state institutions in selected programs and ensure that all students with the potential and motivation to earn an OU degree have a pathway to success.

Tactic 4: Ensure non-academic areas – such as housing and athletics – serve the University’s Purpose, operate efficiently, and generate resources for academics.

Tactic 5: Capture the online education regional market in professional graduate programs by growing tuition and fee revenues (net of waivers) to $100M over 7 years.

Tactic 6: Seek state support at levels in line with comparably populated states’ support of public Association of American Universities institutions.

Tactic 7: Increase the number of international undergraduate and graduate students attending OU by 50% over the next 7 years.

 

 

Strategy 2:
Implement operational efficiencies across the institution to provide the highest quality education at the lowest possible price for students.

 

Tactic 1: Create a culture that understands and is supportive of the Strategic Plan and is committed to its fulfillment. All support functions should operate at optimum efficiency to support the University’s Purpose.

Tactic 2: Using peer-benchmarked data, centralize personnel and operations.

Tactic 3: Streamline policies and procedures, and reduce service obligations, such as committee work, to unlock faculty and staff productivity.

Tactic 4: To complement Academic Program Review and State Regents Productivity Reports, conduct annual college-level performance and productivity reviews, evaluating student success, research impact relative to institutional peers, and program/degree efficiency, with annual reports shared with Board of Regents.

Tactic 5: Hire and develop outstanding staff who are leaders, helping OU pursue excellence and efficiency through a purpose-driven culture.

 

 

Strategy 3:
Create a fundraising operation that underwrites the University’s Strategic Plan.

 

Tactic 1: Redesign the fundraising operation in line with best practices at high-performing institutions.

Tactic 2: Invest resources necessary to achieve scale in fundraising.

Tactic 3: Direct fundraising to institutional priorities as articulated in the Strategic Plan and operate in a coordinated manner across the institution.

Tactic 4: Make need-based aid the University’s No. 1 fundraising priority.

Tactic 5: Grow fundraising resources to top-tier public university levels.

Tactic 6: Launch a comprehensive fundraising campaign by 2022.

Tactic 7: Pair fundraising targets with research, creative activity, and entrepreneurship growth goals.

 

 

Strategy 4:
Transparently focus resources on the Strategic Plan.

 

Tactic 1: Simplify tuition and fee structure, creating clarity for students and their families.

Tactic 2: Develop and abide by a seven-year financial pro forma that aligns with the Strategic Plan and is updated annually.

Tactic 3: Transition toward responsibility-based budget models for colleges that increase autonomy while creating incentives for revenue generation and research impact.

 

 

Strategy 5:
Explore bold ideas that rethink the role of OU within the state to pursue our Purpose more effectively.

 

Tactic 1: Provide alternatives to the current system of higher education in Oklahoma that would better serve the state through greater efficiencies and better outcomes for students. 

Tactic 2: Analyze strategies to increase on-campus living to produce better student outcomes.

Tactic 3: Analyze outsourcing to achieve lower operating costs.

Tactic 4: Seek innovative funding support from local communities to lower the costs for students (e.g., on the model of Tulsa Community College and Oklahoma Career Tech).

 

 

Strategy 6:
Increase accessibility to students who cannot be on campus by expanding our portfolio of online programs and certificates.

 

Tactic 1: Achieve a 95% job placement rate within six months of graduation.

Tactic 2: Develop 50 online programs by 2025.

Tactic 3: Achieve an 85% retention rate and a 75% graduate rate in online programs by 2025.

Tactic 4: Enhance the diversity of student body through OU Online.