Indiana University released details Tuesday on its 2030 strategic plan, both for its statewide network and Bloomington campus.
The university’s objectives are broken down into three primary categories:
Student success
For both graduate and undergraduate students, the strategic plan highlighted academic and career support as priorities. It also proposes increasing creating programs that feed into the state’s job pipeline.
Undergraduates
- Create a first-year seminar for freshmen and transfers
- All students participate in “experiential learning” each year (i.e., internships, research, study abroad)
- Use “evidence-based pedagogy” in classrooms
- Create degree pathways in order to track student process and intervene if necessary
- Require academic units offer career development services
Read more: IU to hire 100 new tenure-track faculty at Bloomington campus
Graduate and professional
- Increase MA enrollment by half
- Increase enrollment in online and low-residency programs
- Annually increase the number of new degrees to meet workforce needs
- Use external grant funding to support graduate student assistantships
- Have more doctoral students fully funded by grants and philanthropy
Read more: IU to hike minimum stipends, waive mandatory fees for grad workers
Research
President Pamela Whitten and Provost Rahul Shrivastav have previously indicated their goals to increase IU Bloomington’s research output by expanding external funding and creating programs relevant to the state’s high-tech economy. The university’s research reorganization plan has met with mixed response from faculty.
Transformational research
- Increase large-scale grant funding for aging research, artificial intelligence, quantum technology and environmental health
- Increase productivity by “reimagining academic personnel roles”
- Increase the number of faculty receiving prestigious awards and honors
- Increase external funding for research by $250 million each year and the percentage of researchers receiving that funding by 50%
- Increase citation counts, article and book publications
Listen: Artificial Intelligence: technology of the future
Entrepreneurship
- Create an “innovation hub and incubator space” and building IU’s ecosystem for “translation and commercialization”
- Expand research partnerships between sectors, such as technology, life sciences and government
- Increase number of invention disclosures, license agreement and patent applications
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
- Increase percentage of faculty from marginalized groups (specific benchmarks not provided)
- Increase representation of marginalized groups in leadership
Read more: Five years in, what’s the future of IU’s Grand Challenges?
Service to Indiana
The strategic plan emphasizes building partnerships with communities, corporations and the statehouse. It proposes creating new programs in biosciences, health and engineering.
Economic development
- Increase number of faculty and graduate students conducting applied research in areas of economic importance to the state, including life sciences, technology and defense
Community collaboration
- Use IU’s resources to address Indiana’s needs, including health, primary education and rural development
- Increase number of faculty participating in public policy discussions
- Increase international research opportunities and projects
Workforce development
- Increase enrollment and degree completion in primary education, engineering, nursing, mental health and other medical fields. Create new programs in these areas
- Increase the number of Indiana internships available for students
For the full version of this plan, visit https://iub2030.indiana.edu/
