Today I had the privilege of attending a pre-conference seminar at the annual American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers (AACRAO) conference in Orlando Florida. I attended the fall Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM) conference which was fantastic due to the emphasis on SEM, accountability, and refined Enrollment Management Processes. In comparison to the fall SEM conference, the current conference in Orlando - the 94th Annual Meeting "Developing Visionary Leaders for a Changing World" - has a much wider focus.

The first breakout session I attended today was titled "Core Concepts: Enrollment Management 101." The session focused on the struggles that various universities face when trying to achieve best practices in Strategic Enrollment Management (SEM).

The session was conducted by two individuals: Stan Henderson, Vice Chancellor for enrollment management and student life from the University of Michigan Dearborn, and Amanda Yale, Associate Provost for Enrollment Services at Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania.

From small private colleges to large not-for-profit state schools, the room was filled with individuals who have been tasked with achieving measurable increases in enrollment, while staying within budgetary guidelines. The topics ranged from the correct layout to use when implementing billboard advertising, to the best CRM to choose when using Banner or Peoplesoft. My corporate marketing ears pricked up many times during the session as catch phrases were mentioned, such as: “data driven results”; “operational efficiencies”; “ROI” and “sales training”.

An interesting dichotomy exists in higher education when it comes to things like ROI and efficiency—colleges and universities know they need to be profitable and scalable, but they also know they have reputations for academic excellence to maintain. So, while the vast majority of provosts VPs and admissions directors in the room were in full agreement with statements like “Enrollment Management is power, data is power…SEM planning drives revenue rather than the reverse.” the entire group also nodded and agreed when Stan Henderson said: “SEM will not succeed unless it is part of the academic fabric of the institution.”

Net-Net?

AACRAO represents the perfect forum for introducing performance-based metrics to the academic world. Colleges and Universities—public, private, traditional, online—all see the need for performance based measurement and combining profitability and efficiency with the pursuit of academic excellence.

Click here to learn more about enrollment management.