Indian River State College Swot Analysis

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Overview of Weaknesses

A considerable amount of the college's departments made mention of the difficulty that found when attempting to secure or obtain data and the issues facing the use of data to align operational effectiveness and continue with various improvement projects. This issues with data allocation across campus stem from the fact that virtually all departments track their own findings and data on spreadsheets but the availability of that data is scarce. By not having all this data in a centralized location, the data is not being used to create strategic performance goals and initiatives. By not using the data in a strategic way, it is impeding the progress of Indian River State College. If the data was used in a strategic way, then management would be able to operate within a framework that would inform others employees what services best help the students reach positive outcomes. Additionally, this would lead to best practices in certain departments being taken on by the college and could be used as a tool to improve other academic programs, student services options and/or other vital components to the college. This will prove to be essential to the success of Indian River State College as the state government has decided to implement a new model to measure performance and success which will ultimately decide the funding provided and available to our institution.

Marketing efforts and internal communication are viewed as a weakness of the college. With concern to internal communication, the issue can be boiled down to turnover in administrative positions. The turnover has caused a gap in communication which has impacted the level of trust, so the immediate correction of this issue is key. Marketing efforts are seen as an area of concern also for the college. There is a belief that Indian River State College is not providing clear information about the academic programs and pathways available to potential students. Combating this is the fact that many stakeholders are not always aware of the avenues to partner and engage with Indian River State College or what is happening at Indian River State College. The reputation and general public perception of the college could continue to linger if the marketing inefficiencies are not handled swiftly.

Based on the feedback from Indian River State College students the academic advising/counseling they receive is considered a weakness. While the students find the advising of faculty and faculty advisors to be helpful and a part of their academic experience that they have become dependent upon the students find the general academic advising to be confusing and far too general. The largest problem facing the issue with academic counseling is that the students do not see or view this experience as a benefit or a value-added component to their overall performance. A more specific counseling experience that is geared to their classes or program would be more beneficial, or the college needs to explore the idea of creating program specific advisors instead of the current method used to assign a student to an advisor.

Indian River State College is a complex organization with a multitude of layers that contribute to the overall effectiveness of the operation which has created various committees and business procedures for different issues and areas. The creation of the various committees and business procedures has caused a state of general confusion across the college. This state of general confusion mixed with the aforementioned internal communication issues has left a great deal of speculation and guessing focused on that actual state of the college. There seems to be a lack of institutionally wide practices regarding some areas, and a more automated approach could be used. There are still a fair amount of paper processes left on-campus and this might be due to the lack of training that is received by new employees regarding the business processes of the college. The lack of training and use of paper-driven processes instead of a more automated approach can contribute to a lack of productivity as a result of slower process delivery. Additionally, these actions can cause one to believe the college favors a process driven approach as opposed to a performance-driven approach.

While Indian River State College has a solid foundation concerning local employer relationships, the college could engage in a strategic effort to expand its reach. This strategy could include working with the economic development group as attempting to help businesses interested in relocating. Internally, the college could try to create a position where an individual or group of individuals work with employers to gauge what the demand is for certain positions and professions in the area, ask for what success means to their organization as it relates to in-demand positions and just reach out to these organizations to continually improve its network to help place students upon completion. Building off this concept is the idea of more work-based learning opportunities. Considering that today's job market and work opportunities are based on networking and relationships, increased student internships could be a solid solution.

Indian River State College has a fair amount of options for students to explore when they are considering their transfer options, however, this could be expanded. Creating articulation agreements centered on program specific and general credit accumulation is extremely important and can be used as a tool or vehicle to drive new marketing efforts. Creating articulation agreements with other colleges and universities will focus on practices regarding student engagement and continue to aide in the academic pathway development for the students.

A common issue facing the community reputation and the image is an overall lack of understanding or awareness on what Indian River State College stands for and what the education earned here can do for a person in the future. More information would need to be collected to gather a strong sample size regarding the true gauge on the image of the college in the community, but getting feedback from high school students, adult learners, internal employees and outside partners to better know how visible and well known the academic offerings and student services options are in our community. These results would allow for a specific campaign or project to take place because useful data would be leading us to the decision. Indian River State College might want to consider using social media as an avenue for marketing. Social media has become a useful tool for people of all ages and it will broaden the reach of the marketing efforts as traditional marketing tactics do not provide the same return.

The student body

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