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Tuesday, March 24, 2015: 9:45 AM-10:45 AM
Potomac 1 (Hyatt Regency Crystal City)
Summary: This oral presentation will present research which examined the practice of strategic enrollment management in schools of public health (SPH) through an administrative orientation with a focus on admission and financial processes.
Learning Objectives: 1. Describe the current landscape of graduate enrollment management in schools/ programs of public health.
2. Inform schools/programs about the challenges and opportunities of enrollment management in schools/programs.
3. Understand perceptions of enrollment management from those engaged in the admissions and recruitment process.
Description: While strategic enrollment management (SEM) has been studied at great length at the undergraduate level, much less attention has been paid to SEM in professional schools. A qualitative research study of SEM was undertaken to examine the prevalence of SEM plans, concepts adopted, organizational structure and perceived barriers to implementation. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with admissions representatives from 27 SPH. The study yielded several conclusions that are important to university administrators. SEM is conceptualized through informal frameworks in SPH rather than through formal strategic enrollment management plans. SPH organizational structures are centralized in terms of admissions and recruitment processes and decentralized in terms of decision-making authority and yield-to-matriculation efforts. Admissions representatives in SPH see collaboration as essential for meeting matriculation targets. Polarities exist regarding the impact of tuition and financial aid structures on enrollment management in SPH. SEM is complex, and there are contradictions between its aspirations and the day-to-day realities exemplified through schools commitment to diversity, an educated and representative public health workforce and a collaborative approach to strategic enrollment management within the context of a competitive and expanding market. Masters degree programs are growing dramatically across disciplines, and future research is warranted to further examine graduate enrollment management models. Ideally, results from this study will inform SPH as they engage in conversations and undertake decisions regarding strategic enrollment management and pursue areas for prospective collaboration within their schools and institutions.
Presenters:
Kara B. Robinson, EdD, MS, Associate Dean Admissions and Student Affairs, Emory University-Rollins School of Public Health
,
Vincent W. James, MBA, MA, MS, Director of Admission, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
and
Caitlin Reid, MS, Assistant Dean for Admissions and Student Affairs, University at Albany SUNY School of Public Health
Moderator:
Kara B. Robinson, EdD, MS, Associate Dean Admissions and Student Affairs, Emory University-Rollins School of Public Health