Question #2

Question #2 - Given the evolving nature of higher education, how must YSU respond to assure its relevance and vitality in the future?

Individual Responses -

Data should be collected to show % of job placement or those continuing on to advanced degrees
I missed the first question. However, YSU is NOT by any means whatsoever an inclusive environment. Most of the management is insecure and does not want any questions, comments, or ideas.
Upgrade technology. Increase visibility of the university to a more global market (beyond the Youngstown area).
Keeping fluid and emerging in the ever changing educational environment
One great thing about YSU is that it accesses professionals in respective fields to be part-time faculty. It's a great way to keep academics relevant to the trends and technologies, as these persons must maintain a current knowledge. That said, the pay scale for part-time faculty is not on par with what they contribute to our academic programs and the students, nor the amount of time put into classroom prep. It would help YSU to attract and maintain these persons vital in bridging the gap between academics and the evolving nature of the professional world to pay them a better wage.
As other institutions are competing by finding ways to help students cover the cost of the students' education, YSU must also explore how they can compete with students financial burden.
1) cut red tape and bureaucratic nature of decision-making (makes us more nimble; able to make decisions quicker, more efficiently); 2) become more efficient while bolstering the academic division; 3) recognize the separation between those who teach in and those who support the academic division (too much time is spent passing off non-academic administrative duties to academic division personnel); 4) meet student demand for programs and courses with delivery options they need/want, such as more online offerings, streamlined traditional course schedule (Mon-Thur; Fri reading day), weekend executive programs, January or "J" terms, etc.; 5) create more positions for executives or professionals or artists in residence with the same pay, incentives as full-service, tenured faculty.
Cost effectiveness to run day to day operations on campus.
Appeal to students both academically and intercollegiate.
Student savings and discounts on classes, books and other purchases/services.
-pay student bill by 'x' date and get % discount, etc.
Make significant upgrades across campus to buildings/furniture.
More community involvement and outreach.
The greatest challenges that has faced YSU, and will continually to challenge us, is name/brand recognition. This may be hard to believe for those who have been here a while or are from the are. However, as a faculty member who is not from the area, I never heard of Youngstown State University until I was on the job market (note, I earned my PHD only an hour away at the University of Pittsburgh and my professor’s there were not aware of YSU either). The decay rate for name awareness of YSU rapidly deteriorates from the center of campus.
And if unknown where not enough of a challenge, those that hear of the university, quickly associate that with a city that has seen many tough years and the largely negative stereotypes that go along with that. It has not been a good association to try to overcome, let alone build upon.
This challenge is going to become even a greater threat in the coming years as technology continually erodes geographical distance and removes barriers of location to students. While being a regional university once ensured a strong place in regional market, that will no longer be the case.
Having considered this problem for some time, I only see one path to combat a shrinking marketplace in the face of limited name and brand recognition would for YSU to explore the possibility of a partnership with Ohio State, with the goal of become Ohio State - Youngstown. Actively seeking a strategic partner such as this is a tactic used in business when facing similar situation as we do (good product, but limited/poor awareness in a larger competitive marketplace and no/limited resource to dedicate towards marketing). This is also a model successfully used by other regional schools throughout the country (e.g., I attended Rutgers-Camden as an undergraduate). Such a move would offer many benefits to the campus, community, alumni, and future students.
I believe not only that right now is the time to explore this as an option, but it may be the only time in are future as we currently have a President that is uniquely positioned and respected to explore such a partnership that could secure the success of YSU and the region.
Two things. First, do not be afraid to challenge the obvious and status quo. Second, every time you have a decision to make always make it under the umbrella of this question: "How will this change affect students?" If the answer is negative, we must exercise caution and ask: "Y are we doing it?" If the answer is positive, we must ask ourselves "Y are we not doing it?"
What makes universities relevant and vital? Outstanding students want the prestige of attending a university to wow their potential future employers. Some ideas follow:
1. Think global (beyond the Valley) in attracting super-achieving students from other states and countries. How? (see #2 and #3) Also, we can do a better job of attracting the best students from our region after instituting #2 and #3.
2. Promote potential donors to finance academic chairs (endowed professorships). Each department should have at least one faculty member who is a national/international leader in his or her field.
3. Promote grants to purchase research equipment or get donated used equipment when research companies are updating to the latest models. In-house equipment can be supplemented by internships at national and international companies who have such equipment that can be used by our students for training and graduate research.
do what Akron did.
YSU needs to truly invest in distance education to stay competitive in the higher education market. We are seeing significant enrollment trends in web-based courses vs. the traditional classroom. We need to add many more entire programs - not just individual courses - offered in an asynchronous online format. We have potential students in our own backyard that elect to pursue programs at other institutions such as University of Phoenix or Capella University because of their online offerings. YSU can successfully compete in this market due to its great affordability. Currently, it is so unfortunate that we often have to send our online majors to other institutions (online) to obtain some GERs because they are not offered online by YSU. Also, YSU should focus on online course offerings in the Summer semester and less on traditional course delivery. YSU is missing a tremendous opportunity in online education. However, YSU needs to make a commitment and investment to ensure that the online education is done properly and students' needs are met efficiently and effectively. In order to do so, a customer/client service relationship must be established and maintained with each student. This is totally different than the traditional model. This all takes resources; however, the return on the investment could be significant.
The two biggest complaints that I receive (from my seat) is that YSU does not offer enough "online options" and that we are not flexible enough in our class offerings to accommodate the "non-traditional" students. Many students are working jobs and don't have the luxury of scheduling classes between 8am and 5pm. Additionally, many can only afford to take classes on the weekends or online when it's convenient for them. Many perspective students are forced to look elsewhere for their higher education needs because we fail to offer the formats they want at the times they want.
The single greatest thing that YSU can do to assure its relevance and vitality in the future is to continue follow its mission of expanding students intellectual horizons, increasing this however to embrace truly global dimensions, assuring that the students are prepared for and adaptable to the diversity they will encounter in an increasingly interconnect world.
Develop the Service mission more and our connection to the region.
I think YSU's construction of on-campus housing has been a very positive development. When I survey students in my classes now, more and more either live on campus or hope to do so. My sense is that if we got behind other incentives to ensure that YSU students live, work, and "recreate" on campus in greater numbers, we could enhance their collective YSU identity, no matter which program they studied in. Along these lines, I think that bringing speakers to campus who really resonate with young people (as opposed to figures whose allure can be more confined to older members of the community) would enhance campus vitality. Clearly these are not intellectual enhancements, per se, but I think anything we can do to strengthen YSU students' collective identity and on-campus networks will pay dividends while they are in college and will generate potential donors when they are done. Anything we can do to counter the commuter mindset whereby students simply pick up their courses and leave would be an investment, as I see it.
In order for YSU to assure its relevance and vitality in the future, YSU must take the leadership role in developing cutting-edge programs to attract students both at the graduate and undergraduate levels. YSU needs to offer more courses in the evenings including summer. We have lost most of our non-traditional population who work during the day and cannot attend classes.
YSU must keep up with the current trends of higher education with the rest of the Nation! Some of our programs still deal in the past practice mode. This is especially true with programs in Education and health fields. Not sure we are up to snuff in the technology end of things. We need to be proactive with communication methods of todays interactive world. Things like Go to Meeting and FaceTime encouragement could be good tools to reach out to the students. Currently these options are not encouraged or used by most. We need to train our faculty on modern techniques to gather insight to students.
I think recruiting diverse faculty and staff will be crucial to the relevance of YSU in the future.
I think it is a good thing to keep involving yourself in workshops and conferences. Ever student is different and learns a different way so it is nice to know different ways to help bring out the genius in every student. Keep classes interesting, reading straight from a text book doesn't work for everyone, you have to keep the students engaged. Something everyone in any different job needs to do.
Rising to the occasion to support YSU academics and neglecting the Student Affairs of the University will continue to put our institution behind the times as well as fail to offer a holistic experience to the students. Furthermore - can we please aim beyond inclusion. What about social justice education for faculty, staff, and student? Inclusion is more than providing a voice in the decision making processes it is also the actions the university will take to ensure equality and the academic and social support provided to students of color, international students, women, and different religions, and non-gender binary conforming students etc. We do not want to cheat our students, especially our minority students, of an enriched college experience. Can the committee be expanded to bring diverse perspectives to the table (possible people with experience and degrees from other colleges and university that are representative of the student population)?
Promote an environment of diversity and inclusion to address the various learning styles of students.
Encourage employees to participate in continuing education and training to stay abreast of changes and developments in their field.
Continue with campus beautification and technology updates to make the campus attractive to prospective students.
Enlist successful students that are thriving at the University in promoting the University to their peers.
It must adhere to the standards of shared governance. It needs to have a breadth of offerings to allow us to not over invest in one area, create a bubble, and then crash when workforce demands change. YSU is relevant and vital at this time. The dropping of a Provost who was damaging to our university was a great first step.
1) I think we need to assess what our academic programs are offering and whether what we offer actually helps our students make it in their chosen field. For instance: a faculty member who has a strong background in plant biology shouldn't be teaching biology for pre-med students; the focus is completely different. And when our pre-med student goes up against those from other schools who got a strong human biology background, they're not going to compete well. We need to look critically at what our students actually need (in regards to both content and soft skills) from each program and then build the program to meet those needs- not build the program around what our faculty like to teach or what their particular interests are.
2) We need to have a stronger stance that pushes students to engage directly with us, as opposed to allowing parents to intervene. I understand the desire to want to serve our students well, but by allowing parents to escalate without ever requiring the student to engage does a huge disservice to the student later in life.
3) We need to focus on inclusion efforts broadly across the campus. Our recruitment, retention, and graduation rates are dismal, especially for students of color. When we fail to support these students we fail Youngstown and Ohio more broadly. And we fail our white students because we're not providing them with an environment where they are being asked to think critically about their privilege or to compare their path to success against someone else.
(student) I believe that YSU needs to keep a focus on meeting and exceeding the academic standards of other schools. YSU is considered a value school with it's price but I believe becoming a school focused on academics and getting into more advanced levels of learning will attract more future penguins.
It needs to evolve. Compared to peer institutions our processes are slow and cumbersome, we use too many paper forms, and we do not leverage our research assets properly. To maintain its vitality, I think it needs to continue to update existing facilities and continue to invest in Youngstown. Students want to go to schools that are affordable, offer high quality education, have nice facilities, and boast vibrant outside-of-the-classroom life. Invest in those things, and the rest will take care of itself.
I believe the first way YSU must respond to assure its relevance and vitality in the future is to increase the diversity of the faculty, staff, and administration. There are not many role models for students of color. I believe if we want to encourage students to pursue higher education, they should see faces that look like them. It helps to reiterate that opportunities exist for people of color.
The second way I believe YSU must respond is to work to develop a persistence plan for students of color. As a university, we are interested in retention. A student-centered approach examines persistence. It involves equipping students who come to YSU to stay at YSU. If involves offering students of color opportunities for engagement. It involves faculty and staff forming the developmental relationships that drive students of color. We have formed the Office of College Access and Transition but evidence of support has not been demonstrated through the commitment of funding and planning.
The third way I believe we must respond is to increase the number of engaging on-line and hybrid courses for students. Our student population is non-traditional and we have to provide options that meet their schedules.
Thank you for the opportunity to complete this survey.
YSU department faculty and university administrators should collaboratively determine how to maintain YSU's relevance and vitality by researching the fields and creating degree programs that speak to the pulse of the job markets in Ohio and across the country. I would argue that YSU must be ahead of the job market by offering degree programs that speak not only to the job market today, but also the job market our incoming freshmen will enter into upon their graduation. And while the visual improvements to YSU's campus are lovely to walk through on any given day, students also need up-to-date equipment in their programs that prepare them for their respective fields. Additionally, YSU needs to be better marketed to potential students; Crash day is lovely and all, but who does it reach? Local high school students who are most likely going to YSU anyway. How can we do the same thing, but on a national level? We should never, EVER market ourselves strictly because we are affordable, but rather, on how well we can prepare our students for life after YSU. We need a presence at events beyond Youngstown, beyond Northeast Ohio, and beyond Ohio to get students who might not consider YSU to see all we have to offer; similarly, we need to have something to offer beyond the traditional, liberal arts education, and offer degree programs at ALL levels of education.
Show that the resources available at YSU are comparable to any other university in the country, at a better value.
I would say the most important thing is challenging us to problem solve and think outside the box. It’s next to impossible to train people for jobs that are constantly changing, but one thing that I’ve been told isn’t going anywhere in our lifetimes is the ability to make connections with people and information because that’s one of the few things that can’t be done by a machine. I feel my understanding of economics has made me capable of having a good career because data may change but how it’s analyzed remains constant and needs to be done by humans. Looking for a job has been easier and I have had more opportunities because employers know that what I learned can be used in any industry despite changes to the world, and my professors have always stressed their advice on what to do in the outside world so we are not only successful in getting a good grade in the class, but also so we can have a career we love and make smart decisions with the resources we get once we achieve those goals.
Blockchain, neural network, machine learning, advanced computer courses in these fields.
YSU must keep up with innovative and flexible learning styles. The faculty and staff need to be motivated and maintain a student focused agenda.
The University needs to continue to attract professional and qualified individuals for employment so that the vitality and success of YSU will continue.
As mentioned in class this is a very broad topic. There are a number of different avenues that can be taken as a way to ensure the relevance and vitality of YSU. I believe there is one that stands out. Over dinner the other night I had a in depth conversation about higher education and the debt related to it. As of now the debt incurred by students is into the trillions. This means that students are taking on more debt and more freely spending that money on student housing, food, activities, etc. I believe that there is a correlation between the amount of debt with students and the infrastructure and enrollment increase at YSU. Eventually, I believe that the student debt is a bubble much like that of the housing crisis that led to the recession of 2008. While I don't believe the government will forgive debt incurred by students, I do believe that the free handouts of loans for school with no collateral will come to an end, therefore decreasing college enrollment in general for all schools and forcing individuals to look for the less expensive alternatives. At this time students will then opt for cheaper alternatives ( YSU) to more expensive schooling. I believe that to ensure future success for YSU the best plan is to increase infrastructure now and build up the university to make it attractive while there is an influx of funds coming into the school and while students are freely spending (free money in their eyes) on student housing, food, etc. When that bubble does come, YSU should look to maintain a low tuition price (always a selling point both now and in the future) with an attractive campus when students do not have as much free access to money as they do now, opting for YSU as a cheaper alternative which has an attractive college atmosphere, in comparision to more expensive college educations with the same attractive features. Spend money now while its more readily accessible, so that in the future when there are finance changes to education YSU has already established itself as an attractive, affordable University that students will want to attend as alternatives when they both have money accessible and don't. Ultimately, with this increase in attractiveness and afforability in comparison to other universities, the educated and intelligent will follow.
YSU must respond by creating more research opportunities as well as be able to increase the help they give to students who are trying to either get jobs once they graduate or internships while they are still in school. Also, YSU needs to be able to peak students interests nationally and not just in the local area.
One key thing that YSU must focus on, at least in the STEM areas, is providing many opportunities for practical involvement and experience. Clubs like concrete canoe, IEEE, and Chem-E-Car are great because they provide some practical experience that can directly translate to real-world jobs, boosting one's prestige when it comes time for job fairs. The more projects and experiences students garner under their respective fields, the more appealing they are to employers. Attracting company recruiters from more esteemed corporations would be a pretty good goal to have.
One minor change that could be quickly adopted would be actually enforcing the smoking ban on campus. Smoking reflects badly on the campus, invoking a sense of low education and poverty. By enforcing the smoking ban YSU's campus would assuredly experience at least a minor boost in quality of life.
In order for YSU to continue to experience success in the future, the university must keep up to date with the constantly evolving society. Using the latest technology for students and staff is one way that YSU will remain relevant to incoming students. Also, improving and keeping campus a place that students like to spend time at will continue student's desire to attend college here.
(a). Keep tuition affordable (increase accessibility; and consider expanding merit-based opportunities to earn tuition);
(b). Continue to leverage internships (both paid and unpaid); increase partnerships with local businesses and organizations;
(c). Build-up community service opportunities for college credit (with the hope of strengthening community support for higher education while providing students with valuable experiences);
(d). Continue to assess local needs regarding continuing education credit opportunities (particularly in engineering, business, education, healthcare, counseling, ethics, and leadership), and explore ways YSU might meet such continuing education needs;
(e). Regularly re-examine how disciplines may complement each other in ways that are responsive to the education sought at YSU (e.g., 3 + 1 programs - pairing certain undergraduate degrees with particular Master degree programs);
(f). Continue to publicize the programs and opportunities that make YSU unique (and proud); capitalize upon our strengths;
(g). Seek to be more energy-efficient on-campus (including more manual equipment at the recreation facilities, or even to use human power secured at such facilities for energy needs on-campus); and continue to be transparent about cost-savings (e.g., when the AC was powered down during the times of warmer temperatures - that transparency is appreciated - thank you);
(h). Expand opportunities in service and scholarship to non-tenure track faculty so as to create more inclusion and to foster mutual commitment between such faculty and YSU (as reliance upon year-to-year contracts may have the unintended consequence of decreasing the quality of education at YSU due to the nature of such positions);
(i). Awareness about mental health issues (and resources for mental health issues) should become a higher priority with respect to the campus and local community; YSU needs to take a more active role in promoting (and, if need be, creating) campus and community resources, educational seminars, and support groups to address substance abuse, addiction, and other, related community health concerns (perhaps partnering with local hospitals and non-profit organizations in this endeavor); there has to be a way (or ways) to address the opioid epidemic head-on, for instance, and yet in a way that assures YSU's relevance and vitality; we have education, curiosity, community service (and partnerships), as well as time (in terms of credit hours/research projects) on our side; we just need to find better ways to leverage our assets in order to create positive social change
In order to determine how to keep YSU relevant in the modern age of higher education, it is important to see what makes other universities stand out. When one thinks about notable colleges, it is usually for three reasons: they are “old” establishments (having been around for well over a century), they have esteemed faculty members, or they have significant amounts of resources dedicated to certain majors/areas of study (e.g. advanced technology). Unfortunately, the first reason cannot be changed, but the other two are somewhat related. Staff members can become well-known and respected through the research they conduct; by publishing new ideas or solutions to certain problems, they can help put Youngstown State University “on the map” by tying it to a significant advancement in that field. This is usually done by utilizing a distinct resource available to them: students. It would be suggested to increase the number of research opportunities available to students, or make current ones more well known so that more students are able to take advantage of them. This will not only provide great experiences for students, but also a tremendous service to the university by pushing it forward into the future. As a side note, it is also important to keep the price of higher education as low as possible for a large student presence to be possible. It is critical to maintain tuition at low levels in order for YSU to continue to be successful in the future. After all, a school cannot be successful without students.
I think so far everything is good, I hope ysu can hold more activity for international student.
I liked the article on ending college majors. I feel like more colleges are starting to do this in some ways and I think YSU should as well. I personally hate the idea of choosing one thing to study. I don't want to just focus on one major. While some majors are more career focused, such as nursing, I feel like I am missing out on some education when I go to just business classes all day. I like the "humanics" view mentioned in the article where you combine and teach many different skills that can be used in a variety of fields. This way there isn't as much pressure on the students to choose something that limits you to one particular area of study and students would become more versatile so that they can find a career that really suits them.
I feel as if Youngstown State doesn't really have to do much to maintain its relevance within the realm of universities. Yes, YSU may not be one of the "popular" universities, but it still is a great university for all who decide to attend. The reasons I came to Youngstown included a great looking campus, beautiful dorm rooms, and most importantly, a super friendly staff. During orientation and my college visit of YSU, the YSU staff and students that participated showed all kinds of gratitude and acceptance for everybody that planned on attending. They were all very friendly and super easy to talk to about anything. As long as the friendly attitude stays, people will recognize what a great university this actually is.
First of all, more parking would be clever. The small amount available right now will limit somewhat the number of students able to attend the university.
That being said, I think that it would be wise to offer a subsidiary program that teaches more hands on type of skills - like a Youngstown State School of Trade. Given the current political climate, I would say that there is a good chance of manufacturing jobs becoming more prevalent, and in many fields (hvac, construction, pipe fitting, steel cutting, etc; union jobs) there is a HUGE demand for qualified workers. So offering a program like this may be key to continuing to be relevant in the future.
Keep it affordable and high quality. Invest in improving the dorms. If you want the students to feel at home and like they belong, it's time to prove that YSU is worth the consideration. Definitely upgrade technology campuswide. Keeping up with advancements will help drastically.
I think that one of the major responses from YSU should be a restructuring/reevaluation of its academics to ensure it is keeping up with other universities. For example, some classes at YSU might be seen as easy "blow-off" classes, whereas at other universities they might be rigorous courses that prepare a student for future work/classes. While I, as a student, find it to be a relief when a class is easy, I also think that it's a waste of my time. I would say that maybe a quarter (just guessing) of my classes here at YSU have been almost a complete waste of my academic time. I think that YSU needs to reevaluate much of its curriculum and many of its faculty members to make sure that they are keeping up to date with what students are supposed to be learning. I know that students may evaluate a course and its instructor towards the end of the semester, but I have doubts about how effective that is (most don't complete the surveys). Also, adding new courses and majors/minors would be great - I hate it when I want to take a course on a particular subject (even outside of my field) and it isn't offered here. More courses!
I think that another major step forward would be to check how other successful universities are teaching their courses. They don't need to be exactly the same (unless it is supposed to be), but following a similar path could be helpful. So, essentially, YSU needs to make sure that none of its classes are a waste of its students times and they can do that by reevaluating its current coursework/faculty (and adding new courses!), while also studying other universities. YSU needs to make sure it doesn't fall behind in the academic department, since that is the core of a university. I hope that this information is helpful. May the Force be with you
Let’s employ recent insights from choice architecture and behavioral economics to try to increase enrollment and student retention rates.
Here are a few suggestions:
1) Either get rid the $45 non-refundable application fee, or (preferably) offer to refund the $45 application fee to all applicants who enroll at YSU. The tuition revenue alone from an additional student in one year would more than offset the lost application fee revenue from 180 applicants.
2) Make it as simple as possible to apply, enroll, and complete financial aid forms for students. Research suggests that when consumers face a large sticker price on something (like cars, houses, or college), they aren’t that responsive to relatively small decreases or differences in price across alternatives. Students think, “I’m paying a lot and I’m going to be paying my student loans back for a long time regardless of whether it’s $8000/yr. or $9000/yr.”
What consumers are responsive to is their time and improvements in simplicity. So offer more simple ways of applying, for example:
-One page “introductory” applications.
-Interested in learning more about ysu? Enter your number here - we’ll call you.
-Need help filling out your FAFSA? Call this number.
-Want to learn about financial aid and scholarship opportunities? Enter your email address here.
3). Directly incentivize course completion and timely graduation. For example, if you pass a particular class with high DFW rates, you’re refunded the course fee. If you graduate in four years and enroll in a YSU graduate program, you automatically receive a $1,000 stipend your first semester.
4) Finally, I think we should aggressively offer micro-loans or grants (less than $1,000) to students in need. I personally know of students who have dropped from ysu because they faced an unexpected financial situation.
It not only helps the students - it can more than pay for itself by increasing retention and graduation rates.
Georgia State University implemented a very successful micro grant program. You can read about it here: https://success.gsu.edu/initiatives/panther-retention-grants/
I think that YSU has a valuable set education for the future and should continue to progressive the same way
The nature of higher education is changing rapidly and there are more and more students pursuing higher education than ever before. So the inflow of degree holders in to the market place is enormous but still organizations are finding it difficult to hire the right candidate for different positions. So universities should focus on developing individuals with high level of skills rather than the number of students who graduate each semester.
In order for YSU to make its mark in this environment would require them to focus on the skills they impart to the students and the kind of experience they provide the students with. As the world is getting highly competitive, holding just a degree is not enough for an individual to set them apart from others. An institution can only thrive as long as they produce quality rather than quantity. I think YSU should bring in new courses that are of more relevance in the future and the current market scenario. Training, workshops and competitions can also help impart more practical knowledge for the students. YSU has also been focusing on getting more international students which can also helps in bringing more diversity and diversity is an essential element in growth. Students should be encouraged to be more vocal and improve on their communication and people skills because that is one of the most important thing that can help a person succeed in life.
To assure its relevance in the future I think that YSU should consistently work on improving the relationship between administration and faculty. Over the years I have heard a lot of complaints that faculty are undervalued by administration and I don't think that's beneficial to students or the school's reputation. I also think it would be beneficial to have leaders for positions such as deans, presidents, etc, who have strong academic backgrounds (as well as good communication skills).
The major way to assure that YSU will remain relevant and vital in the future is by assessing the education that is being provided to its students and concluding whether it is excellent or not.
If YSU is to provide excellent education to its students, it must succeed in two major forms of learning. These two forms are informational learning, and experiential learning.
Informational learning seems best conducted through the Internet. In today's climate, people that are self-motivated are capable of digging up information through the Internet that could help them with just about anything. Though, whether that information is always quality is left up in the air. YSU should strive to provide quality information to its students in a simplistic, streamlined, easy-to-use manner. Looking at websites such as Wikipedia as a model could be beneficial. But an important distinction to be made here is the critical depth to the information provided, rather than just the cursory gloss that Wikipedia can often offer. A large-scale, Internet-based library of critical information that can be accessed at will through smartphone or laptop would be an incredible tool for students and Professors alike at YSU.
The other form, experiential learning, is critical for helping students build up their ability to actually perform the job that they're trying to do. This is what the key focus of on-campus learning should be. Time spent in the classroom should be active participation in the development of the skill that it is that they're trying to learn. Finding the best and most efficient way of doing this should be made a priority. From my experience, learning in smaller groups of 3 or 4 with the professor providing supplementary guidance has had the best results in my long-lasting understanding and ability to perform.
The future of higher education lies in providing programs which are relevant and useful. The University as a research organization should predict how the industries will evolve and what the skills will employers require from employees. Moreover, University should also predict how the subjects can evolve in future. For instance, there is a new branch in Economics which is called Behavioral Economics. It studies the effects of psychological, cognitive, emotional, cultural and social factors on the economic decisions of individuals. So, In order to provide world-class programs, YSU can include some basic Psychology or Cultural study classes in the Economics program for those planning to specialize in this field.
There are also important trends in Finance, whereby Companies from Investment Industry started to require coding skills for Finance employees. The Finance industry changes dramatically. For instance, it is projected that most of Back Office Functions (for instance, Accounting Departments) will be replaced by computer programs in 10-20 years. Therefore, Companies demand employees with Understanding in Finance and comprehensive coding skills. Again, YSU can include some coding classes in its Finance and Accounting programs
The subject that should be included in all programs is soft /social skills development. This class should target developing communicating skills and emotional intelligence. The significant part of people doesn’t have such skills. For instance, students can be strong performers on GPA but have little communication skills. As a result, it can be hard for them to find a good job after graduation because they couldn't establish connections and get Faculty recognition during their study. The lack of social skills deepens due to the vast development of social networks.
So, in order to assure its relevance and vitality in the future, YSU should develop its education programs by proposing:
1. Combined programs
2. The inclusion of soft and social skills classes in all programs.
My opinion is that YSU can help support the current economy by increasing the rate at which students find jobs in college or after it has ended.
As many students commute to campus, YSU's focus should be in attracting students to stay on campus for more than just attending their classes. Offering more options for restaurants or recreational activities would work towards that goal, but equal attention should be given to expanding academic opportunities for students: promoting research options for undergraduate students, participating in academic competitions both on campus and at other universities, and offering seminars for teaching skills that are valued in the workforce as well as just being practical (e.g., coding courses) are all ways to improve the academic experience. A greater awareness of the academic opportunities already offered on campus should be promoted, as well, along with discussing what would be added.
YSU must respond with increasingly investing itself in the success of its students rather than success in sports or other likewise things. The success of the students however must also include involvement in activities and not having to study at all hours outside of class. YSU should also continue to not discriminate against as to allow diversity in the college.
I believe that as long as YSU remains extremely affordable and continues to supply the high quality education that it does it will remain relevant. There is simply no other university around that delivers the quality that YSU does at such a cheap cost so i believe YSU's response should be to change nearly nothing.
At least on the STEM front, YSU can ensure its vitality by staying on the bleeding edge of technology. Because STEM is a cornerstone of YSU's identity, having a foot in the door of the latest breakthrough would help its success. It could be the latest, groundbreaking 3D printer or a better NMR instrument to analyze molecules. Allotting more resources to the STEM department should be tied with YSU's success in the future.
As it is going now, YSU needs to stay relevant by providing more technology to their students. Ohio State provided iPads to every one of their new freshmen. I am not saying that YSU needs to provide iPads to every single student, but I think that they can provide more technology that is easily available on their website. For example, YSU provides many of the Office essentials on their website, but they do not provide Microsoft Publisher which would be very convenient for student clubs in creating pamphlets or newsletters. YSU would also benefit by partnering with companies in order to provide students with cheaper technology. Computers and tablets are expensive and I think they can be beneficial in the learning process if more people had access to better products. YSU should also invest in more green initiatives to become ahead of the curve compared to other universities. Clean energy will become increasingly more important in the future and it would be a good idea for YSU to get started earlier rather than later.
Technology and non-traditional learning plays a major role in the future of education, the change of the way students and instructors use of electronic devices as tools of education, such as tablets and smartphones. There’s more non-traditional students, programs and tools can be useful and can be more desired. All this along with focusing on teaching the required skills, I think can make a huge impact on the future of higher education.
To remain relevant and vital in the future, YSU must consciously work and strategize to improve three key areas.
First, YSU must strengthen its collaboration with industry by forging partnerships among students, faculty and companies on projects of mutual interest. Securing employment placements for students and inviting industry leaders as guest lecturers can also help foster a productive relationship between academia and industry. Since the obvious destination of students is industry, YSU must continually update its curriculum to reflect the trending needs of industry. This will help increase the employability of graduates while making YSU relevant in a changing world.
Another focal area YSU must work on in order to stay relevant and vital in the future is its research presence in terms of volume, income and reputation. Promoting collaboration among faculty members on research projects to attract funding and hosting international conferences can help increase the research presence of YSU. Moreover, most university ranking agencies assign a higher weight to research in their methodology, therefore, achieving this will improve YSU’s ranking.
Lastly, YSU must devise strategies to improve its international outlook by recruiting talented international students and faculty. Also, developing international cooperation in research, education and business with foreign companies and universities will help increase YSU’s international appeal.
In conclusion, developing and implementing strategies on these broad thematic areas i.e. collaboration with industry, research presence and international outlook will further enhance YSU’s relevance and vitality in the future.
Over the recent decades, higher education has been driven by significant evolution such as; the ever changing needs of industry and rapidly evolving technology. YSU among some colleges and universities have continuously changed their mode of delivery, revising and updating their curricula and other core functions. However, in order for YSU to remain relevant and vital in the future , it must consciously adopt strategize to improve these key vital areas.
Firstly, YSU must channel funds towards its research works to remain relevant and vital in the future. This can be ensured by promoting collaboration among faculty members on research projects in order to attract international recommendations and ranking among the top most universities.
Also YSU must strengthen its collaboration with industries in and around Ohio by merging partnerships among students and companies. Securing employment placements for graduates in various disciplines and inviting various job seminars on campus can help foster a productive relationship between academia and industry. This will be of greater benefits to YSU among other universities in terms of acknowledgement.
Lastly YSU must increase its intake on international students in order for this university to be recognized world wide.
In conclusion, I believe developing and implementing these vital areas will enhance YSU’s relevance and vitality in future.
1. Increasing access to new types of students like different programs, certificates and specializations including learning modalities like online, on ground and hybrid.
2. Maximize the use of resources with increasing the number of desirable programs offered.
3. Providing support and resources to students throughout their journey plays a critical role too that is by predicting students behavior, customize interactions which helps in understanding student needs and improves overall decision making and resource allocation.
Ysu must have more programs for training the students to improve their computer skills
For YSU to assure its relevance and vitality in the future, the college could make changes to their curriculum. For example, most colleges do not have a strong graduation rate. To solve this problem, YSU could collaborate with more high schools in the area to prepare students for college academics. Through this, students will be exposed to college work; so when they enter college, they will not feel unprepared and overwhelmed. This will help students gain the academic skills they need and cause them to not drop out because the work is pressuring them. Another option for YSU could be to collaborate with different companies or workforces. With the competitiveness of society, it may be difficult for students to find jobs because they do not have the needed skills. If YSU worked with different companies in different majors maybe during the student's senior year, they could help their students gain the qualities they need to ensure employment in their field quickly after graduation.
I believe that in order to assure its relevance and vitality in the future, YSU must continue to offer a great education at an affordable price. I believe this is key due to the fact that todays potential students are realizing that, a quality education is available at much more affordable institutions than the classic "prestigious ones". However, in order to keep up with the growing enrollment, YSU must establish either more dorms, or on campus housing. I have lived on campus for both of my years here at YSU and there is definitely a shortage of places for upcoming students to live, as all residence halls are over capacity.
I believe that in order for YSU to to maintain a competitive status in the higher education community they have to do a couple of things. The most important thing would be to create more housing at an affordable price. YSU continues to build more apartment buildings which isn't a bad thing but the most recent ones are not very affordable for most students, just a select few. If they could build at least a few more dorms students would be attracted to those more instead of the apartments. I also believe YSU needs to make sure there programs and equipment are up to date. Its hard for a smaller college to keep these things up to date but it would help bring in more students to the university. Overall YSU currently stays competitive by offering a fairly cheap tuition prices compared to its competitors but if they could offer the same benifits as bigger universities it would bring in a lot more students.
From what I have currently seen at YSU, it is actually doing a pretty good job of keeping with the times. For colleges keeping their relevance, I first think of it in terms of technologically. YSU's website seems to be fairly updated, and that is a good sign. However the website is extremely unfriendly. To find anything on the website you have to go through several different links, some of them leading to completely wrong things. Other times, there are pages that just contain single links. Google can be more useful to find pages than the website itself. So I think that the website needs a major overhaul.
I think this question is pertaining more to education however, so I'll try to address that more. I really like the way that YSU has it's classes, especially having a college of STEM. It's a very relevant group of majors, and it's good that YSU has that. YSU has the classes that I want to take, so I don't have any complaints towards the classes that are offered. I think it would be much more beneficial to me as a student to not need the general education classes that are needed however. I can see why some would be offered, but the general education classes I'm stuck in right now don't seem to offer me any concrete benefits. My STEM first year experience class teaches me some good job obtaining skills, but I'm not interested in getting a job right now, and would rather just be offered the pamphlet over what resources are available at the school rather than have a semester long commercial, it get this feeling in my communications class and my intro to honors classes as well.
For other kind of random things, it's beneficial to YSU in costs by doing their current methods of cutting corners where they can. The air conditioning is one area of where I've seen this so far. Their method of not informing students interested in the school of this is quite effective. Whether this fact helps or harms YSU in the long run I can't really say, I'm not real sure what is saved in money vs. lost in the potential students due to the view of YSU as cheaper. I did think it relevant enough to bring up however.
Personally, I think YSU should devote more of the university funds to academics and cut down the budget for athletics and related facilities. According to Niche ranking and reviews, YSU owns a B for academics and gets plenty of complaints on the same website about academics from people identified as YSU students. The comments circle around the quality of the courses, instructors and academic advisors. As an enrolling student myself, I have to put a lot of effort to register for the classes with professors who at least know what they are teaching and do not just read from the power point slides. Several friends of mine registered for classes last semester without looking up the professors' reviews on the internet and had a whole terrible semester. One of them, an intelligent and diligent student, signed up for a writing 2 class but was not taught anything related to writing. Instead, she was required to read for the whole semester and answer ridiculously detailed questions specific to the readings, as if she took a reading instead of writing class. Thus, more of YSU funds should be reserved for academics, by ways of building more rigorous standards for instructors, increasing instructors' salaries, etc. I also think a lot of academic advisors in YSU are not very helpful. More specifically, my academic advisor limited her appointment with me, not willing to listen to what my education goals are but only focused on advising me the courses I needed to take to graduate in 4 years. A lot of my friends thought the same. I think that 4-year graduation goal is unnecessary and unnecessarily emphasized. Placing graduation in 4 years above everything else is at the expense of true knowledge pursuits of many students. Students should be recommended and have the chance to look into the courses and fields they want to explore, of course, with the guidance of academic advisors so that they do not spend their whole lives lost in college. Yet at least academic advisors should listen to each student's purpose and what they want to take out of college instead of stiffly adhere to that common goal.
Athletics is important, but that should not be a priority compared to academics. After all, students go to college to get an education or to simply get a degree. Whatever the reason is, a university should put academics on top and uses its resources wisely to serve the academic pursuits of students.
I think as a university hoping to stay relevant in the future, YSU must value the expectations of students' potential future employers. Although YSU already accomplishes this on some level, I believe it is important for the university to stay on top of it, as it is something that is constantly changing. The most important focus as a university is providing students with the education and experience that is at least required (if not beyond that) for their intended career. The university as a whole should make their best efforts to continuously monitor the qualifications and expectations of the careers that students will likely be entering after graduation. Hopefully, this will increase graduation rates and also help students find jobs straight out of school.
Given the future technological innovations, I find the argument by Jeffrey Selingo on changing the concept of college majors to be intriguing. With the amount of technological advancement that has happened over the last few years, and the amount that will inevitably happen in the future, Youngstown State may want to consider the ideas employed in this article. With the rise of artificial intelligence and how it may cause professionals to bounce around different jobs, it may be best to allow to students to explore many fields before picking a specific major. This could be done by promoting the "undecided" first year major, or requiring students to not declare until after their first year. I believe the university should also promote the humanities and liberal arts more vigorously. Students can learn many critical thinking skills from these subjects, skills that are critical in the post-education world.
Teach technologies and concepts that are trending 5 years in the future (around the time of a student graduating). Do not waste students money teaching classes on technologies that will be either obsolete or greatly impacted in a negative way in the near future. Have a progressive scope towards technology in which businesses and companies will inevitably integrate.
Maintaining and building connections with workforce employers is definitely key; by understanding what its students will require in their respective fields, the university can ensure that each and every one of them is able to graduate prepared to enter the workforce.
Likewise, it is particularly helpful that the university has some, if not most or all, of the key tools and/or interfaces that will be common in these fields.
I am surprised that there is no student voice represented on the strategic planning committee. That to me is a big red flag. If you are seeking to assure relevance, students should be in the room listening and contributing to your strategy development.
We must ensure the students have the resources that they need. Attracting, retaining, and hiring competent, creative and engaging faculty is key to this.
The University needs to be honest about its niche (really an urban research institution???) and priorities (sports vs. academics). It needs to make some tough decisions regarding where it wants to be in the future -- enrollment (not at the cost of under-prepared students), academics, and its place in the City and Youngstown and the larger community.
YSU should try to understand the students and try to get the fact that every student comes from different backgrounds. For some students college is all they have so if the faculty & staff tries to respect and understand the students than YSU can come together as one.