Revue du Journal arabe des affaires et de la gestion

Strategic Planning Implications in Higher Education

Abstract

 Sundaram Nataraja and Larry K Bright

Strategic planning is a systematic process for designing the future of higher education institutions. The planning process usually focuses on enhancing the quality of teaching, increasing research and scholarly outputs, and fostering community partnerships in academe. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of leaders and faculty members on strategic planning implications at a selected business school. As a case study, the research was conducted at the College of Business Administration in King Saud University (KSU-CBA), Saudi Arabia. The population selected for this study included 449 faculty members. The sample for the research included only 348 faculty members. There were 17 personal interviews conducted and a survey was administered with a sample size of 248 faculty members. Subsequently, the responses were statistically analyzed. The findings that were derived from the analysis of the data collected in this study include: KSU-CBA leaders and faculty members did not significantly differ in their perceptions of the historical evolution of strategic planning process in higher education. KSU-CBA leaders and faculty members perceived that strategic planning helps in designing the future of their school and respondents agreed on the potential use of strategic planning in higher education, and both leaders and faculty members perceived that the current strategic planning of KSU-CBA was as successful as possible; however, the full implementation of the plan would benefit the institution in sustaining its identity, image, and reputation.