Building a Future

Background

The Regents developed Building a Future to meet the needs of Kansas based on input from Kansans.

The Board began the strategic planning process by meeting with Kansans in communities across the state to ask how higher education could help them. During meetings with students, parents, employers, and business and community leaders, a clear picture emerged of how Kansas colleges and universities could help families and businesses meet their aspirations and build a prosperous future for the state.

Kansas families wanted higher education to be affordable and accessible and to help them succeed in their careers. Businesses asked colleges and universities to build a robust talent pipeline and help drive innovation.

In conjunction with leaders across the state's public higher education system, the Board developed Building a Future around three pillars - helping Kansas families, supporting Kansas businesses and advancing prosperity in the state.

Areas of Focus

Each pillar with Building a Future contains areas of focus that help direct the system's efforts.

• Families: Affordability, Access and Success
• Businesses: Talent Pipeline and Innovation
• Prosperity: Intentional Economic Development and Community Benefits

Promising Practices

Building a Future is unique in its inclusion of promising practices. These serve to establish a roadmap for achieving the objectives in the strategic plan. Each year the Board adopts annual goals that help drive implementation of these practices.

Measuring Progress

To monitor the system's progress towards achieving the aims established in Building a Future, the Board adopted a series of metrics.

Nearly five years into the plan, these metrics are showing excellent results with increases in affordability and access, improved outcomes for Kansas students, better retention of talent in the state, significant growth of the research enterprise and a host of benefits for Kansas communities.

The Board's strategic plan dashboard provides different ways to view and break down the metrics used to track progress within each area of focus.

A Comprehensive Plan

Building a Future provides a framework for all of the work of the Board and the system. The development of the annual unified appropriations request, adoption of Board goals, governance initiatives and more are all guided by the plan's pillars - Helping Kansas families, Supporting Kansas Businesses and Advancing Prosperity.