Navigating COVID-19

We know it’s hard because a sprint has become a marathon, but you now have an opportunity to transform your institution to become more adaptive. You can emerge from this crisis stronger than before, ready to face changes in your academic programs, student services, facilities, and technology. We can help.

To build on our whitepaper on the future of higher education, our research into the student experience during COVID-19, and our conversations across nearly 40 institutions, we can work with you to take the pulse of your students, be ready to adapt, and update your strategy.

Take the pulse

Any data that’s more than two months old is now obsolete. To help your students navigate this change, you need to take the pulse of your communities. Using tools like our Student Experience Snapshot, we’ll help you understand how they are feeling and what they need, and how you must change.

  • Surveys, focus groups, and peer conversations
  • Creating insights on programs, support services, facilities, technology, community, and communication
  • Providing comparisons to national trends, peer institutions, and brightspot benchmarks
  • Identifying recommended actions to address the findings in the near- and long-term
  • Engaging students in co-creating strategies that stick

Be ready to adapt

Reopening plans are changing as the conditions on the ground do. You need the right teams, equipped with the right tools so you can adapt no matter what happens this fall. Using tools like our Adaptive Campus Planner, we’ll help you transform your services, spaces, staff, and systems so you can pivot this fall and into the future.

  • Redesigning student services to meet new students’ needs
  • Monitoring then adjusting spaces and building systems
  • Changing schedules, staffing, and operations in response to changing conditions
  • Supporting remote work with policies, tools, and training
  • Ongoing communications planning and execution so people are informed and included

Update your strategy

As you think about the next semester, you also need to think about the next decade. The choices you make today should be wise investments in the future that move you closer to your goals, not short-term fixes in the wrong direction. Using our agile approach to Visioning and Strategic Planning, we’ll bring together global trends, local analysis, and leadership retreats to help you update your goals and the strategies to realize them.

  • Trends forecasting and peer comparisons
  • Future scenario planning to prepare for uncertainty
  • Facilitating interactive discussions with leadership, faculty, staff, and students
  • Updating strategic plans and master plans
  • Designing, implementing, and assessing pilot projects