WIT Strategic Plan 2011-2014

Development of a Strategic Plan for 2011-2014 - Public Consultation

Waterford Institute of Technology aims to be a responsive Institute that listens to and learns from its stakeholders. The Institute is now developing its Strategic Plan for 2011-14 that will set out our objectives and how we aim to meet them.

Invitation to make Submission

We would be interested in hearing from interested parties (individuals or organizations) who can assist this strategic planning process by:

1. Highlighting issues of concern
2. Advising us on directions we might consider
3. Seeking alignment of strategies or strategic components
4. Helping identify future scenarios with which the institute should engage
5. Evaluating the services from and outputs of the institute and particularly how they meet user needs.

This will assist the Institute to focus on:

• What the objectives in the new plan will be and how they will differ from our current goals
• Initiating dialogue on how to best position the Institute to respond to changes over the next five years
• How to plan for these changes in a way that is responsive and flexible
• Whether this should be reflected by a change in the balance and mix of our activities
• How this should be based on and reflect the regional context

The Institute recognizes the wide range of internal and external stakeholders who have an interest in the activities of the Institute.  These include: students, staff, schools and further education providers, other third level institutes, residents and community groups, charities, business, trade associations and industry bodies, as well as local, regional and national government.  Through discussions with and feedback from individuals and organizations, the Institute can bring different viewpoints to bear on its developments and better serve its communities.

We now invite submissions from all interested parties to help form and develop the next strategic plan. We are particularly interested in how our stakeholders feel we might better serve them in terms of improving our portfolio of programmes, our research, development and innovation activities and how we might better rise to the challenge of economic and cultural development in the region.

How to make a Submission

Waterford Institute of Technology has developed a framework document (download here) as part of the process of consultation.

This document is necessarily informed by the external context and the very challenging funding environment for higher education. However it does not seek to provide a set of answers, only to put forward questions, which the Institute’s community can collectively engage with, as a means to structure and inform debate. Equally, not all issues which have been presented for discussion in this document will necessarily become part of the future institutional strategy. The document is designed to structure the debate under 5 overarching themes. These are:

1. Building Sustainable Partnerships (e.g. How can we build Regional, National and International partnerships?)
2. The Smart Graduate (e.g. How can we best develop our students, in order for them to reach their full potential?)
3. Organising for Economic and Social Renewal (e.g. What should we do to maximize the Institute’s potential to generate   economic and social renewal within the region)
4. Harnessing Research Capacity and Impact (e.g. How can be maximize the potential to generate regionally relevant and useful research?)
5. Supporting Strategic Planning and Decision-Making (e.g. How can we ensure that our planning systems are critically informed and regionally relevant?)

Each of these themes will likely form a chapter in the new strategic plan and we are accordingly requesting that submissions develop their points under these headings so as to facilitate more direct comparison and analysis. A response template is attached to help in this regard and we would request that this template be used as far as possible. For each of the above sections we are asking the following four major questions; What things might WIT do?  What do you think WIT should improve on?  What should WIT continue to do and any further comments you would like to make. 

Closing date for receipt of Submission Documents is Friday 21st January 2011, at 5.00p.m.

Written submissions can be sent to:

Name:      Paula Power
Address:  Office of the Registrar
                 Waterford Institute of Technology
                 Cork Road, Waterford 
Email:       pppower@wit.ie
Tel:           051 306129

On sanction of the Strategic Plan for 2011-2014 by the Institute's Governing Body, submissions will be made publicly available on our website. If you do not wish to have your submission published on our website, please state this clearly at the top left corner of your document.  Submissions may also be accessible under the Freedom of Information Acts 1997 and 2003, subject to the provisions of that Act. For this reason anonymity cannot be guaranteed to correspondents and we will not be in a position to take account of anonymously received comments and views.

Development of a Strategic Plan - Public Consultation 2011-2014
(MS Word, 1KB)

Towards a Strategic Plan (PDF)
(PDF, 223KB)

Submission Template (PDF Version)
(PDF, 94KB)

Submission Template (Word)
(MS Word, 54KB)