What is Differentiation Strategies

This chapter describes the participative and iterative strategic planning process that was used in Middle East Technical University (METU), as a “good practice” for other institutions of higher education in two major stages: (1) preparation of the strategic plan and (2) its deployment to all organizational units via a catch-ball approach. Both stages are iterative as they involve consecutive phases of collection, evaluation, sharing, and alignment of findings along with strategies, first among different strategic planning areas in the preparation stage, and second among different organizational units in the deployment stage. It is participative in that a large body of internal stakeholder representatives organized into various cross functional teams have carried out strategic planning at the university level. A support team assumes a critical role in coordinating the studies carried out by separate committees, and reporting the process its outcomes to University Strategic Planning Council to ensure the consistency.