Indiana University president Michael McRobbie outlined his Bicentennial Strategic Plan in his annual State of the University address Tuesday.
The plan, announced in last year's State of the University address, was created with input from all campuses and focuses efforts to keep the university thriving as it enters its third century.
The five-year plan identifies seven priorities for the university which include keeping costs for students low, aligning academic offerings with workplace needs and expanding international engagement.
Here they are:
1. Commitment to student success
The focus here is college affordability while maintaining quality. IU says it is committed to aligning "academic offerings with the needs of the 21st century workplace."
2. Catalyzing research
IU says it will provide seed funding to assist faculty as they pursue outside research funding. The university also plans to hire groups of people in areas it identifies as of "strategic importance."
3. Re-imagining education
IU's School of Education, one of the best in the nation, plays a vital role in the training of educators and in education research. Despite its success, the school -- like many others in the nation -- has seen falling enrollments in recent years, largely as a result of the challenging policy and economic environments faced by P-12 schools today. The strategic plan calls for a comprehensive review of the latest trends in teacher education and education research by an outside panel of experts to be completed before the search for the new dean at the school's core campus in Bloomington begins.
4. Becoming a global university
IU is opening offices in several countries, including in Beijing and New Delhi. University officials say they plan to create alumni chapters in 32 countries around the world.
5. Health sciences research and education
IU is calling for increasing its research in population health management, cancer, cardiovascular disease and the neurosciences. It also plans to develop new "interprofessional degrees and specialized qualifications" in the health sciences.
6. Building a prosperous and innovative Indiana
IU plans to focus more heavily on faculty research that has the potential to be developed for commercial uses. The IU Research and Technology Corp. will also move from its current downtown Indianapolis location to the IUPUI campus. Univrsity officials say this will better integrate the organization into the university.
7. Toward a culture of building and making
Mcrobbie says the lack of programs in design and engineering at IU Bloomington needs to be addressed. In an effort to do so McRobbie is calling for the creation of an outside committee to asses the option of creating an IT-based systems engineering program at the university's Bloomington campus.
