Strategic Enrollment Management [SEM] is a crucial element of planning for new growth at a University

University

A university is an institution of higher education and research, which grants academic degrees in a variety of subjects. A university is an organisation that provides both undergraduate education and postgraduate education...

 or College

College

A college is an educational institution or a constituent part of an educational institution. Usage varies in English-speaking nations...

 as it concerns both academic program growth and facilities needs. SEM focuses on what is best for students' success while increasing enrollment numbers and stabilizing institutional revenues. A student's

Student

A student is a learner, or someone who attends an educational institution. In some nations, the English term is reserved for those who attend university, while a schoolchild under the age of eighteen is called a pupil in English...

 success, according to an enrollment manager, is often based on the institution's graduation and retention rates. This means that students are often recruited based on the likelihood of them graduating. While this practice is acceptable for many privately-run selective institutions, it is not a common practice of most public institutions such as community colleges. A real strategic enrollment management approach looks at the entire student cycle, from entry through graduation.

According to Thomas Williams :

Enrollment management

Enrollment management

Enrollment Management is a term coined by Dr. Jack Maguire that is used frequently in higher education to describe well-planned strategies and tactics to shape the enrollment of an institution and meet established goals...

 refers to the traditional task of “setting and meeting the goal of assembling a student body that comprises a predetermined and advantageous mix of students in terms of quality, number, and diversity in all its forms.” Strategic enrollment management is a broader, more dynamic task that begins with an understanding of the world around us, anticipates changes, probes institutional mission and goals, modifying them if necessary, and coordinates “campus-wide efforts in such areas as marketing, student recruitment and retention, tuition pricing, financial aid, academic and career counseling, and curriculum reform.”

Some of the components of Strategic Enrollment Management include:

• Characteristics of the institution and the world around it
• Institutional mission and priorities
• Optimal enrollments (number, quality, diversity)
• Student recruitment
• Student fees and Financial aid
• Retention
• Institutional marketing
• Career counseling
  Career Counseling
  Career counseling and career coaching are similar in nature to traditional counseling. However, the focus is generally on issues such as career exploration, career change, personal career development and other career related issues. Typically when people come for career counseling they know exactly...
  
  and development
• Academic advising
• Curricular and program development
• Methods of program delivery
• Quality of campus life and facilities

History:

Common misconceptions

According to Bontrager and Kerlin , common misconceptions and sometimes barriers to implementing or moving strategic enrollment management forward within an institution are that strategic enrollment management is:

• a quick fix
• solely an organizational structure
• an enhanced admissions and marketing operation
• a financial drain on the institution
• an administrative function separate from the academic plan and mission of the institution