The strategic planning process at Slippery Rock University guides us as an educational community preparing our students for the future. Our
strategic framework is to prepare the next generation to solve tomorrow’s problems. In essence, we are building a stronger tomorrow by preparing
future leaders today.
The University's strategic thinking and long-term planning is framed by the significant global trends facing the next generation.
I invite you to join the strategic planning process for Slippery Rock University by participating in a planning group (or two, or all five)! Please
fill out the form below. You will receive confirmation that you have joined the specified group(s). The five planning groups will be assembled by
October 20. Stay tuned for meeting dates and times.
Thank you for bringing your talents to the strategic planning process for Slippery Rock University.
Trend One: Changing life cycles as our nation’s population ages.
While life expectancy in the United States in 1900 was a mere 47 years, people in the 21st Century are expected to live to be almost 90.
When life expectancy was short, children moved to adult responsibilities without prolonged adolescence. Today, with so many more years
of life to juggle, we are prolonging the younger life stages and adding new ones at the older end. We are rapidly moving away from the
rigid sequencing and separation of schooling and jobs toward a new pattern in which higher education spreads out over a 12-year period and
is more closely integrated with work. It is difficult for young people to make sound career-life choices without testing them in the "real
world" of practical experience. In ten years, we would want to see more efforts to integrate higher education, training, and work. The
"second stage life" populations that include retirees and those who wish to add new competencies represent other challenges for higher
education to provide opportunities for education and enrichment with flexible time schedules and more responsive curriculum.
Trend Two: Our nation’s fate depends on maintaining our world leadership in science and technology.
Our productivity gains that our economy needs to improve our standard of living and competitiveness depends on it. In Japan, 66 percent of
undergraduates receive their degrees in science and engineering, and in China 59 percent receive such degrees. Furthermore, as the
information economy continues to mature, average workers will experience a half-dozen major career changes during the course of their
professional lives. In a highly dynamic, knowledge-based economy, constant learning and retraining are not simply desirable; they are
necessary to stay relevant. Education systems must adapt to prepare individuals to compete in the global arena.
Trend Three: The need to understand other cultures.
Recent events have driven home how important it is that we learn to see the world from the perspective of others. With each
passing year it grows more obvious that colleges must prepare Americans to deal more competently with people from other parts of
the globe. From 2005-2050, the United States, Germany, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Australia will be the destinations of the
most total international immigrants. Cultural isolation and ignorance will inevitably undermine our efforts at world leadership.
Trend Four: Increasing challenges to higher education’s commitment to social mobility.
Access to higher education is the principal mechanism for making American' unwritten social compact work: to provide genuine
equality of opportunity. Public funding is always a concern in higher education. Federal financial aid has undergone two major
changes: shifting overwhelmingly toward loans, rising from about half to about three-quarters of all federal aid creating a
negative effect on those of low and middle income because they fear heavy debt to pay for a college education. State financing of
higher education continues to lag behind costs demanding strategies for cost containment. Public funding changes are shifting the
social compact to more dependence on the individual’s ability to pay risking affordability for a large segment of the population's
access to higher education.
Trend Five: The world is reaching a point of diminishing returns regarding resource utilization.
Sustainable design is simply becoming 'good design'. Energy conservation, students raised on environmental awareness, and local
purchasing for economic development all play a role in this development. By 2025 OPEC will account for up to 50 percent of the
world supply of oil. Skyrocketing demand—primarily in Asia—will drive these trends. Aggregate increases in other sources of energy
will be overshadowed by the exponential consumption of coal, oil, and natural gas in the decades ahead. Water scarcity and quality
will be a prime determinant of expanding current food production. Poor land management and the overuse of fertilizers are causing
land degradation, soil erosion and desertification are taking place on a massive scale. The impact of this rise in consumption is
startling in terms of potential geopolitical conflict and environmental consequences.
