Implementation: The Missing Link in University Planning

Abstract

Although planning has gained importance at universities across the country, insufficient attention to the issues of implementation has caused many well-laid plans to become lost on shelves rather than becoming the bases for either academic or operational decisions. Between 1991and1993, Virginia Commonwealth University developed a comprehensive and detailed strategic plan designed to direct the university through the decade. Following the adoption of the plan, the provost and the director of academic planning created a process and strategies for guiding and insuring implementation of the plan, including its 15 broad strategic directions and 162 more specific objectives.