Academic Program Simulation Tool A new approach to strategic planning in higher education

Abstract

Strategic planning is important for the development of Higher Education at any level, including the levels of Department, University, and Ministry of Education. As of today, higher education strategic planning is mainly based on setting key documents such as a mission statement, values, vision, goals, and implementation plan. In this paper, simulation is proposed as a supporting tool or even as a separate component of this procedure. A simulation tool is introduced, that is capable of simulating an academic program, to study the effect of key parameters, such as the nominal duration of studies, and the level of the students, on important metrics, such as the mean graduation rate and the mean duration of studies. Furthermore, the simulation of a typical Department of Informatics of the Greek academic system is presented, as a case study, and the effect of increasing the nominal duration of studies on key metrics, such as the mean graduation rate and the mean duration of studies, is evaluated.