“Higher education will accommodate a diversity of institutional missions that will be clearly articulated and defined. Together, the institutions will form a coherent and inter-related system and collectively will have the requisite critical mass for optimal quality and efficiency”. National Strategy for Higher Education to 2030.

This is one of the six stated high-level objectives of the National Strategy published nine years ago.  The intention was, and remains, the creation of a coherent system of interlocking higher education institutions, each playing to their strengths and combining to address national economic and social priorities. In support of this objective the Strategy recommended a process of “strategic dialogue”.  The key elements are the Minister for Education and Skills sets out national objectives for higher education and each institution through a process of dialogue with the HEA enters into a performance agreement which contains the objectives they will address and the performance metrics to be applied, with potential funding implications in the event of a failure to meet them.  

After almost a decade since this system was first introduced to Irish higher education it is timely to review the policy and its implementation.  Some of the issues that arise are –

·      Have the policy objectives for a “system approach” been a positive development for higher education? Has it helped create a new social contract between higher education and society?  What’s worked and what has not worked well? 

• To what extent has the strategic dialogue process met expectations? Has it become embedded in the higher education system? 

•  How genuine is the dialogue or is it a bureaucratic “box ticking” exercise?

• To what extent has the “system approach” influenced planning and strategy development in each HEI? To what extent has it affected institutional autonomy?

• Looking to the next 10 years, to what extent should the policy direction change?  

 You are invited to join us on 11 June 2020 to discuss these and related issues.  To bring an international perspective of “systemness”, the discussion will be led by Professor Nancy Zimpher.

 Venue to be confirmed.

Nancy L. Zimpher is Chancellor Emeritus of The State University of New York (SUNY). 

From 2009 to 2017, Dr. Zimpher served as the twelfth chancellor of The State University of New York, the nation’s largest comprehensive system of public higher education. Prior to SUNY, she served as president of the University of Cincinnati, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and executive dean of the Professional Colleges and dean of the College of Education at The Ohio State University. 

Throughout a career, Dr. Zimpher has formed a paradigm-shifting vision that rises to meet the expansive responsibilities of public higher education in the 21st century. “To educate more people and to educate them better” is the mantra at the center of her collective-impact theory of action, which she exercises in several key areas, including building on university strengths to drive regional and local economic development; creating seamless cradle-to-career education pipelines in every community; and systemically transforming higher education to create a culture of evidence-based practices in support of university-wide continuous improvement initiatives. 

Dr. Zimpher is co-founder and immediate past chair of StriveTogether, a national network of innovative partnerships that holistically address challenges across the education pipeline. As SUNY chancellor, she served as chair of the National Association of System Heads from 2014–2017, the Board of Governors of the New York Academy of Sciences from 2011–2016, and CEOs for Cities from 2012–2013, and led the national Coalition of Urban Serving Universities from 2005–2011. 

Dr. Zimpher holds a BA in English Education and Speech, an MA in English Literature, and a PhD in Teacher Education and Higher Education Administration, all from The Ohio State University.