“Embracing the Future”

1. “Embracing the Future” An interactive Strategic Planning Session AU Faculty of Business

2. Welcome: Deborah Hurst • Task: Strategic focus on the next Five years (10 years) • Outcome: Discussion document

3. Welcome: Marilyn and Barry Process • Small and large group discussions • We are all responsible for our own good time! • Listen, Reflect, Respect, Question, Voice, Debate, Relate, Share, Agree (Others?) • Road to Abilene

4. Today’s Agenda • Welcome • Janusian Thinking: • Past – Deborah, Kerri, • Present – Alain, Marilyn, Barry, Chris • Future – Barry • Where does the FB fit? • Five Questions • From Q to Choices • Wrap-up • Glass House Bistro

5. Funny? … alas, yes because it is too true in many organizations.(Yet, not in this one)

6. Janusian thinking Greek god of beginnings and endings Reflection (Past) and Opportunity (Future) Today is 1/1 • Past insights: Deborah, Kerri • Present insights: Alain, Marilyn, Barry, Chris • Future insights: 40 + Barry

7. Insights: Past The 2010 strategic plan identified five Strategic Initiatives • Curriculum of the Future • Faculty Accreditation • Integrated Production Process • Continuous Improvement, • Best Place to Work

8. Insights: AUFB retreat in April … i. Programs and Credentials ii. Student Service iii. Student Experience iv. Industry Engagement v. Partnerships vi. Educational Technologies vii. Support Technologies viii. Internal Operations ix. Research x. Accreditation xi. Other (identify)

9. Insights: Faculty / Staff What we do well: • Experts in online delivery • Learner Support/Student Services • Flexibility • High quality academic resources What could we improve: • Innovation (programs, courses, technology) • Collaboration (among faculty, with students, external partnerships) • Marketing • Resources/Morale

10. Insights: Faculty/Staff What do we need to be aware of: • Competition! New players in online space • Threat of Obsolescence: Do things better/faster. • Building on successful programs: best practices What is our competition doing better? • Growing by diversifying and increased offerings • Better branding/marketing to attract students • Accreditation and greater recognition • Online environments with greater interaction

11. Insights: Faculty/Staff What future directions should we focus on? • Being the leader in online education • Gaining international accreditation • Focusing on core programs (limited resources) • Responding effectively to increased competition • Providing high quality student services • Increasing faculty/staff morale

12. Insights: Students N=449 Very, very preliminary UG: great communication, staff support, tutors, flexibility, format, well-organized, courses, exams, texts, competition,Co-op MBA: interactive, engaged, flexibility, comprehensive and challenging, approachable faculty and staff, well laid out, credibility (top 50) (accredited), price, competition, technology

13. Insights: Competitive Landscape – 30,000 ft • Online competition is significant and increasing – more than 93 AACSB accredited schools offer a fully online degree • Rise of MOOCs – Udacity, EdX, Coursera, Khan Academy (micro lectures watched 468 million times), Code Academy (24 million students) • Students have high expectations from technology in learning

14. Insights: Competitive Landscape – 3,000 ft • Traditional schools with online options – McGill, U of A, NAIT, MacEwan... almost everyone is in the game or entering • OntarioLearn a consortium of 24 colleges – 70,000 course registrations • National boundaries matter less - Arizona, Liverpool, IE... • Price, recognition, accreditation matter

15. Insights: Competitive Landscape - Undergrad

16. Insights: Competitive Landscape - Undergrad

17. Insights: Competitive Landscape - MBA • Top Canadian competitors – Queens and Royal Roads • Niche and specialized MBAs - Laurentian (CGA), Dalhousie (Banking/Finance) • Accreditation and reputation challenges • Negative media – AU in the news • AU enrolment decreasing to flat • Although Jan 2015 apps up over 50% compared to last year

18. Insights: Competitive Landscape - DBA • Top competitors – all outside Canada • Accreditation, reputation, program content, and professor matter • GMAT as a barrier compared to other DBAs • Teaching vs. practice as outcome

19. Insights: Competitive Landscape - LMD • Targeting organizations and companies • More at risk of MOOC disruption – this is where most universities are experimenting • Price, effort, course subjects, and professor matter

20. Focus on the Future • My interest is the future, because I am going to spend the rest of my life there. Charles Kettering • When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened. John Richardson Jr.

21. Challenge of Change There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.NicoloMachiavelli - The Prince. Then why Change? 2008 “Can I keep my BB?” President O – $200 2012 “I want an iPhone!” The World – $7.36 2013 “Mmmmm – BB10” – $14.80 2014 “Passport?” – $9.02

22. Q. Small Group What are the forces that are driving us to change? List a number – then pick the BIG three. Political, Environmental, Social, Technological, Economic, Legal

23. Future: From the Economist • On one front, a funding crisis has created a shortfall that the universities’ brightest brains are struggling to solve. Institutions’ costs are rising, owing to pricey investments in technology, teachers’ salaries and galloping administrative costs. That comes as governments conclude that they can no longer afford to subsidise universities as generously as they used to: some analysts predict mass bankruptcies within two decades. • At the same time, a technological revolution is challenging higher education’s business model… means that the knowledge once imparted to a lucky few has been released to anyone with a smartphone or laptop.

24. Future: Harvard • Four attacks are going after the main revenue source teaching revenue: Internet; Distance Learning; For-Profit universities; Online Start-ups

25. R. Large Group What are the forces that are driving us to change? Report on our BIG three. Similarities?

26. Q. Small Group • Is our current business model future proof? • Can our organization survive and thrive in its current business model and mode of operation?

27. Future: Ernst & Young (AU) Universities will be compelled to create new, leaner business models as competition increases for staff, students, funding and partners. (University of the Future – Australia, 2012) • Public institutions will increasingly be run like corporations, while seeking to maintain the freedom of inquiry and academic rigour that their long-term reputation depends on. • Private institutions will exploit profitable market niches, while creating new markets and sources of value; for example, by specialising in select parts of the education value chain. • Policy makers will seek to maintain steady growth in access to university education. They will search for policy levers and programs that put the higher education sector at the centre of a genuine knowledge economy integrated into the Asian region, while inevitably tightening the public purse strings for higher education providers.

28. Future: Ernst & Young These changes will force universities to adapt in a number of ways: • Breadth of programs — Universities will need to consider whether they can continue to maintain a competitive position — domestically and internationally — across a broad range of programs, or whether to concentrate resources on a smaller range of programs. • Target customers — Universities will need to have a clear strategy and execution around target student segments and their specific needs and preferences. Today, most universities’ segmentation is broad at best (for example — school leavers, mature age, and international). Universities that do not become more focused on segments will be exposed to competitors with targeted student propositions. • Channels to market — Universities will need to rethink the role of digital channels and third party partnerships in recruiting students and delivering teaching and research programs. • Back office — The asset base and university administration will need to be significantly leaner than it is today. Most universities at present have significantly more support staff than academic staff — this ratio will have to change.

29. Hackeducation

30. R. Large Group • Is our current model future proof? • Can our organization survive and thrive in its current business model and mode of operation?

32. Theme: Who Might We Become? • Decide on our winning aspiration. • Choose “where to play” – the market for our offering. • Decide “how to win” – executing strategy. • Develop core capabilities. • Fashion the management system.

34. Winning Aspiration By 2025 Athabasca University’s Faculty of Business will be the first choice of English speaking students seeking a business education delivered online. Win in a particular place in a particular way.

35. Q. Small Group Discussion • Agree / Modify • How will we know if we get there? • Milestones?

36. Winning Aspiration By 2025 Athabasca University’s Faculty of Business will be the first choice of English speaking students seeking a business education delivered online. Win in a particular place in a particular way.

37. Q. Where to play? Focus on our Competitive field; which … • Customers, Channels, Products, Partners, Demographics, Regions, Price, ? • What segments should we centre upon?

38. Future: Huffington Post In a survey of 1,228 Canadian students and youth, yconic asked about their attitudes and expectations when it comes to pursuing post-secondary education. • In testing online courses more broadly (free or offered through a traditional education platform) 28 per cent said they would consider online studies, replacing the on-campus experience. When we look at results for those 23 to 29 year olds (n=356), this number jumped to 45 per cent.

39. R. Where to play? Focus on our Competitive field; which … • Customers, Channels, Products, Partners, Demographics, Regions, Price, ? • What segments should we centre upon?

40. Q. How will WE win? *where we have decided to play Orienting questions • What is our unique value? • How will we create superior value? • What is our competitive advantage? • What will be our point of difference and how do we sustain (leverage) this? Find three INSIGHTS to share.

41. A. How will WE win? Report on our Three? • What is our unique value? • How will we create superior value? • What is our competitive advantage? • What will be our point of difference and how do we sustain this?

42. Q. What are our core competencies? • What capabilities are in place? (that we can leverage) • Which ones might we need to add? List all that we need to talk about.

43. A. What are our core competencies? • What capabilities are in place? • Which ones might we add? List all that we need to talk about.

44. What is Our Possibility? • Henry Mintzberg (1994) strategy should involve intuitive glimpses of possibility: The anticipatory principle -ongoing projection of a future image (vision) • Saving lives – today and tomorrow (Niagara Regional Health) • Making life-long customers (Canadian Tire Financial) • Taking back the RED(RCMP)

45. Respond with the first thing that comes into your head … What colour is FB? What sound is FB? What animal is FB? What colour should FB be? What sound should FB be? What animal should FB be?

46. Q. Structure and Sustainability Strategy informs Structure OR Form follows Function • Will the present organizational structure get us there? Is it sustainable? • What might we look like?

47. Q. What management systems are in place? (needed?) • How do we optimize our assets? • Faculty; Curriculum; Technology; HR; Instructors (tutors, coaches); Support Staff; Marketing; Communications; Sales

48. Insights: Past The 2010 strategic plan identified five Initiatives • Curriculum of the Future • Faculty Accreditation • Integrated Production Process • Continuous Improvement • Best Place to Work

49. At the AUFB retreat in April … i. Programs and Credentials ii. Student Service iii. Student Experience iv. Industry Engagement v. Partnerships vi. Educational Technologies vii. Support Technologies viii. Internal Operations ix. Research x. Accreditation xi. Other (identify)

50. R. What management systems are in place? (needed?) • How do we optimize our assets? • Faculty; Curriculum; Technology; HR; Instructors (tutors, coaches); Support Staff; Marketing; Communications; Sales