Madison College Strategic Planning

The Next Chapter in Our Story: Vision 2030

In the spirit of transformational change, and with support and endorsement of our District Board of Trustees, Madison College is crafting a vision for the next five academic years. This new element of our ongoing strategic planning process is called Vision 2030. The active participation of our students, faculty, staff and community partners will be instrumental to its success.

Vision 2030 will be an all-encompassing roadmap that demonstrates and actualizes the mission of Madison College. Its four strategic themes – Access, Journey, Learning and Success – will guide our decision-making, commitment to student success, and continued support of educational, workforce and community partners.

Madison College’s primary focus is understanding the needs of its community’s students and residents and working proactively and nimbly to address those needs with our many community, educational and workforce partnerships throughout our region and state.

This commitment is embedded in the work of every employee, team, unit plan, and most recently, the college’s Vision 2030 strategic framework. Upon completion, Vision 2030 will serve as Madison College’s singular plan and framework.

Our Strategic Themes

Our four strategic themes reflect the College’s mission, vision and values, and they will connect our efforts to meaningful, transformative action. Chosen and crafted with great intention, each theme has a unique purpose as we plan the next chapter of Madison College’s story.

From these themes, and in coordination with the college’s efforts around climate and culture, we will collectively produce the college’s next set of quantitative and qualitative key performance indicators (KPIs).

Access

Ensuring an equitable and seamless student experience and enhancing the college’s reputation as a desirable education access point.

Full Access Statement

Nationally, the present-day community college provides people access to education in preparation for bachelor’s degree attainment and technical training. In 1937, Wisconsin created a focus on adult education for the forerunners to the present technical colleges. Today, Madison College provides our communities’ diverse students access to educational programming for all these purposes, inclusive of high school completion and English Language Learning, at multiple locations and in multiple modalities. All members of our district’s diverse communities should be able to access the programming we provide. By utilizing a holistic student support approach, including clear recruitment, application and communication flow while incorporating equitable processes and procedures, we ensure a seamless student experience and enhance Madison College’s reputation as a desirable education access point. Understanding who is and who is not accessing our college and why is critical to assessing our mission.

Journey

Embracing every student and employee’s unique journey and working toward an ideal experience that unlocks and nurtures potential for all.

Full Journey Statement

Retention, persistence and completion are often centered as key pillars and metrics of a student's journey. Madison College has a unique opportunity to provide equitable support and opportunities for all students, faculty and staff. The key for the college is to assist in providing guidance and support in the building of journeys that focus on unlocking the potential for all. To this end, Madison College will create the conditions for everyone to safely voice opinions, be heard and valued and feel that they truly belong. No journey is the same, but Madison College will build towards the ideal experience - where perspective intersects with informed choice. As students, faculty and staff are empowered to monitor progress along students' academic and career plans, we will work to build out touchpoints and clear milestones in our strategic plan. This approach simplifies student decision-making and allows students to be known, nurtured and challenged to achieve their highest potential. Madison College will provide personalized opportunities that allow students to explore broadly and develop passions deeply, leading to a transformative educational journey.

Learning

Fostering holistic student learning through a culture of care, diverse experiences and streamlined programs and services aligned with student goals.

Full Learning Statement

Learning is an important stand-alone theme because our Madison College students have many opportunities that advance learning that aren't specifically measured by the data collected under the Success theme. Students learn about themselves through varied activities from being a teammate through athletics to working on projects together and accepting responsibility with a textbook rental program. Additionally, a student will engage in learning through academic coursework, labs or clinicals, and sometimes, through studies abroad. Regardless of their intention to complete a credential or transfer, or just enroll in one course, they will have participated in learning. Through a culture of care, professional development, shared learning and personal accountability, Madison College employees will have a shared responsibility to ensure programs and services are aligned with each student’s end goals. Learning is further enhanced with simplified choices through program maps and academic plans with default and flexible options and co-curricular coherence.

Success

Providing equitable support and opportunities, meeting each individual where they are, to ensure a successful and fulfilling learning journey.

Full Success Statement

Every individual has a unique definition of what “success” means for them; our students and employees are no exception. By providing equitable support and opportunities for all students, faculty and staff, Madison College can consider each individual’s needs, unlocking their true potential. Needs-based measures such as the proportion of students who experience food insecurity, have unmet child-care needs or unattended to mental health issues are just as important as traditional measures of success such as persistence, retention, credential completion, grade point average and employment. Vision 2030 work will create both quantitative and qualitative Key Performance Indicators to address multiple types of successful outcomes, truly embracing the notion that success starts with meeting the individual where they are at, and understanding their goals so that we can create the conditions that make their learning journey successful.

Our Process

Every voice matters in developing Vision 2030.

The active and engaged participation of our students, employees and community is vital, and gaining these insights is well underway.

The process has included outreach and listening sessions with community members, organizations,and industry and workforce partners. All our regional campuses and their business and community partners, each serving different student populations, have provided input, and the college is actively engaging all employees and students through videos, forums, surveys and focus groups.

Last fall, as each theme was introduced, employees shared work-related ideas and challenges, as well as personal stories. Utilizing Artificial Intelligence tools and traditional research methods, our Institutional Research and Data Management team led the distillation of key insights from over 1,000 submissions.

Most recently, over 800 employees participated in a virtual town hall to discuss Vision 2030 and give voice to priorities, and over 400 employees engaged in idea-generating focus groups to further identify steps forward. And, this spring, two comprehensive collegewide survey tools, one for students and one for employees, will glean more insights.

The initial strategic vision and framework will be presented to the district board later this spring, with plans to refine and present a final product in summer of 2024.