What is Academic Planning?
Academic planning outlines a college’s or university’s overall academic goals and how those goals will be met. Academic planning establishes long-term and short-term objectives to match the mission of an institution with the needs of learners. It can include academic program planning, academic structure, organizational framework, institution-wide outcomes or competencies, and division or department goals and how they align to the overall plans. Academic planning is a component of a broader framework for integrated planning. For more information about academic planning and integrated planning refer to the Society for College and University Planning.
CU Denver's Academic Planning Process
During the 2022-2023 academic year, CU Denver is beginning an academic planning process that will allow us to:
- Match our academic and curricular offerings with the needs of learners
- Position CU Denver for sustainable success in the future
- Gain efficiencies in the short term
Our academic planning process has explicit links to, and must be congruent with, the other plans at the institution, i.e., Strategic Enrollment Management, Student Success, Recruiting, Strategic Realignment of Resources and the 2030 Strategic Plan.
| Steps for 2022-2023 | Timeline |
| Assemble a team within school/college | Fall 2022 |
| Review data about academic program performance (including unit profile, course efficiencies, course management, program performance, instruction insights, financial indicators and overall ROI; use DSTk and insight guides) | Fall 2022 |
| Scan the external environment to determine larger trends that will affect CU Denver’s academic activities (market intelligence requests) | Fall 2022 |
| Determine goals, create and document strategies to reach those goals | Spring 2023 |
| Seek input from interested people, including coalitions of people | Spring 2023 |
| Create and document action plan | Spring 2023 |
| Implement, measure, and modify the action plan | Fall 2023 and beyond |