Southern Polytechnic’s efforts to fulfill its mission and achieve its vision take place within a complex strategic environment that includes the campus but extends far beyond it as well. If the University is to successfully fulfill its mission and achieve its vision, it is therefore necessary for it to understand this strategic environment.

SPSU’s strategic environment can best be understood by analyzing the University’s internal strengths and weaknesses and assessing the external opportunities that it has and challenges that it faces. These strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges are often integrally linked, but for purposes of analysis, they are presented separately here.
 

Internal Strengths
 
A. Excellent Academic Programs
Southern Polytechnic has extremely strong academic programs. Students receive a well-balanced education, studying theoretical concepts coupled with exposure to applied knowledge. The curriculum is flexible enough to be ever-changing, ever-adaptive, and ever-current.

B. Satisfied Students and Alumni
Southern Polytechnic’s students are practical, articulate, intelligent, and pleased with their programs. Students are proud of their accomplishments at Southern Polytechnic and state the University has helped them meet the goals they came here to achieve. Alumni indicate great satisfaction with the quality of the education that they received at SPSU.

C. Caring Supportive Campus Environment
Southern Polytechnic has caring faculty and staff and offers programs to assist students in their academic and social development. SPSU offers small classes and access to faculty. Students consistently report satisfaction with class size, campus size, and faculty performance.

D. Employed Graduates
Southern Polytechnic’s students value the University’s technical orientation because of employers' high regard for SPSU’s programs. Students cite the top reasons for continuing their education at Southern Polytechnic as qualifying for a high-level position, meeting educational requirements for their profession, and increasing their earning power.

E. High SAT Scores
Southern Polytechnic’s entering students have a high academic profile. The University consistently has one of the highest SAT averages in the University System. Currently, it has the fourth highest average SAT scores of the 34 system institutions.

F. Close Ties with Business and Industry
Southern Polytechnic has close ties with business and industry and incorporates curricular changes and new programs necessary to respond to their needs. Most majors have industrial advisory committees, and most faculty have a background in business or industry. This faculty experience offers students a "know-how" approach to learning and solving problems.

G. Cost
As a part of the University System of Georgia, Southern Polytechnic has low tuition. This provides it with a marketing advantage in comparison to most other comparable universities. Indeed, in comparing the importance of 20 factors considered when choosing a university, students rank "value received for tuition" as the highest.

H. Social Diversity
Southern Polytechnic’s enrollment includes 18% minority students on a campus that actively embraces diversity. The enrollment figures for minorities and women exceed percentages at many comparable technically-oriented universities.

 
Internal Weaknesses
 
A. Fails to Capitalize on Attributes
In its marketing efforts, Southern Polytechnic often fails to capitalize on its strengths. The institution frequently defines itself in relation to something else. For example, in describing its engineering technology programs, the University often compares and contrasts itself with engineering programs or vocational technical programs. As a result, engineering technology students often express confusion regarding their major.

B. Declining Undergraduate Enrollment
Although the University experienced an increase in freshmen and overall enrollment this past fall, undergraduate enrollment has declined over the past several years. For example, Cobb County experienced a population growth rate of 8.4% from 1990 to 1995. During the same period, Southern Polytechnic’s enrollment of freshmen students from Cobb County declined 58%.

C. Inadequate Support Services
Southern Polytechnic has identified several areas that need increased support. These areas include personal counseling, academic advisement, and information technology.

D. Insufficient Funding
SPSU has experienced increasing demands on its state resources, which have not been adequately supplemented by external funding. Demands from partially-funded Board of Regents mandates require the University to redirect money to projects such as Banner, the name change, and semester conversion. Paying for these mandates is difficult because the University’s technical programs depend heavily on laboratories and equipment. In recent years, the University has not been able to allocate adequate funds for maintaining equipment.

E. Lack of Fully Integrated System of Institutional Effectiveness
Until recently, the University has not had a completed Strategic Plan; has not had a fully integrated research, planning, and assessment process; has not has fully developed or updated long-range academic, enrollment management, facilities, and human resource plans; and has not tied the budget to planning in a consistent manner. As a result, many of SPSU’s internal processes and decisions have not been clear, resulting in inefficiencies and duplication of programs and services.

F. Insufficient Internal Collaborative Culture
The absence of clearly articulated strategic directions and constancy of purpose has led to ill-defined roles and encouraged individual units to concentrate on their own well-being rather than emphasize collaboration. This has been reinforced by a reward system that has not encouraged units to work together for the good of the institution. This has decreased the sense of campus community. Consequently, issues of power, control, and lack of empowerment have resulted in fragmented efforts, substantial expenditure of energy on campus politics, and inattention to the strategic directions of the University.

G. Insufficient External Collaborative Culture
Externally, the lack of political understanding has resulted in the University not viewing itself in relation to the larger community. For example, SPSU does not fully comprehend its role within the University System of Georgia. It does not pursue leadership opportunities within the metropolitan area frequently enough— nor has it until recently formally established relationships with other international academic institutions.

H. Communication
Unclear communication has contributed to many of Southern Polytechnic’s recent conflicts and misunderstandings. This has manifested itself in a lack of trust and collegiality, often leading to actions based on rumor rather than fact.

I. Inadequate System for Faculty and Staff Development
SPSU has not had a plan for faculty and staff development that clearly identifies opportunities for growth and renewal. Evaluation of administrative and managerial performance has not always been related to continual improvement and the pursuit of life-long learning.

 
External Opportunities
 
A. Southern Polytechnic's New Identity as a "Polytechnic State University"
In 1996, the Board of Regents changed the institution’s name from "Southern College of Technology" to "Southern Polytechnic State University." This new identity allows the University to include new and different programs while still retaining its mission without eclipsing the historically strong programs in engineering technology.

B. Location
Located near Atlanta, SPSU can take advantage of the opportunities afforded by a large city. Atlanta's status as a regional hub along with a good transportation system yields a pro-business climate. In addition, the state of Georgia is highly regarded as a location for business. As a result, many growing businesses and industries have a strong need for Southern Polytechnic graduates and for the expertise offered by the University.

C. Increase in Population
The Atlanta metropolitan area is growing at an annual rate of nearly 3% per year. Especially important for Southern Polytechnic is that Cobb County and other counties in the University’s service area are experiencing an increase in population. The twenty counties that comprise the metropolitan area make up 47.4% of Georgia’s population.

D. A Unit of the University System of Georgia
Southern Polytechnic benefits from its place within the University System of Georgia, a system which is assessed as "excellent," "very good," or "good" by 93 percent of Georgia’s business leaders. SPSU benefits from this name recognition and reputation, as well as the financial support from the Board of Regents and state legislature.

E. Growth in Technical Professions
Across the South, many of the fastest growing occupations are in advanced manufacturing, information services, high technology, and other technical areas where Southern Polytechnic and its alumni excel. This bodes well for the future of SPSU.

F. Need for Credit and Non-Credit Education
There is a great need for higher education in the state of Georgia. Nearly 50% of the state’s jobs require post-secondary education. Additionally, two-thirds of the future workforce is on the job today and will need significant re-education in the next decade. Opportunities for SPSU to continue to attract high-quality students, and to attract a greater number of them, appear excellent.

G. Collaboration
Many opportunities exist for collaboration with local, regional/state, national, and international entities. Many opportunities result from SPSU being a unit of the University System, while others such as those with the Cobb Educational Consortium and Savannah River Plan exist due to the needs of business and industry. The University also has many opportunities to engage in international activities; indeed, it has programs in place in Europe and Latin America.

H. Non-traditional Methods of Instruction
Southern Polytechnic utilizes several innovative technologies to improve its teaching and learning processes. These non-traditional technologies include GSAMS and the Internet.
 

External Challenges

A. Not Readily Recognized in the Marketplace
Southern Polytechnic State University is not easily recognized in the marketplace because under its previous name, the Southern College of Technology, many people believed the institution was a vocational/technical institution. In addition, many programs offered, especially in engineering technology, are not well understood by the public.
 
B. Changes in Licensure for Professional Engineering
Some states have adopted a revised licensure model that allows only graduates of Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology/Engineering Accreditation Commission (ABET/EAC) accredited engineering programs to take the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) examination required to become registered engineers. Where this has occurred, graduates of an ABET/TAC accredited engineering technology program such as SPSU are not permitted to sit for the FE examination. This has not occurred in Georgia, but the number of states in which SPSU ET graduates can take the FE exam is smaller today than in the past.

C. Funding Redirection
Beginning in FY 1996, all University System of Georgia institutions have been required by the Board of Regents to redirect funds from low-priority to high-priority programs. For SPSU, this has meant that $500,000 a year has been redirected. For the first few years this policy was in place, redirection presented no serious challenge, but at some point, low-priority programs will have been eliminated, making continued redirection a problematic exercise.

D. Lack of Academic Rigor Among Many Secondary Schools
Since SPSU’s curriculum relies heavily upon math and science, entering students must have a strong background in these subjects. In Georgia, serious questions exist about the degree to which many secondary schools provide rigorous math and science education.

E. Increased Competition
The competition for high-quality students has increased. In Georgia, the Hope Scholarship has increased the competition for high-quality students in both public and private institutions. Additionally, approximately 25 institutions of higher education in the metropolitan area offer students many choices when selecting a college or university to attend.

F. Lack of Coordinated Effort for Distance Education
Seventy-two percent of all public institutions offer more courses by interactive television than a decade ago, and 28% offer Internet courses. Most institutions in the University System offer courses through GSAMS or have off-site locations. However, many questions about distance education remain at SPSU and affect progress in course development and delivery.

G. Cost of Technology
SPSU has many programs which are highly dependent upon technological facilities and equipment. The facilities and equipment must be maintained and updated to sustain the quality of the degree programs and to ensure that students are getting the best possible education. The rapid pace of change in technology further complicates this challenge.

H. Policies and Politics
SPSU, as all academic institutions, is affected by state and national policies and politics. These policies and political processes must be better understood in order to facilitate the growth and enhance the stature of the institution. As a unit of the University of System of Georgia, SPSU is also affected by Board of Regents and inter-institutional policies and politics.

I. Decrease in Human Connectivity
As people interact more and more with computers and machines, they begin to interact less and less with each other. While the University teaches students how to use technology, it must also teach students the importance of human interaction and how to work with other people. Because social disorganization and dysfunctionality are on the rise, the University must also provide students with opportunities for social development to ensure their success in life.
 

If you have any comments or suggestions, please send e-mail to banderso@spsu.edu
 
Back to The Strategic Plan of SPSU
Last updated: June 17, 1998