SWOT/TOWS Matrix

Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities S-O Strategies W-O Strategies Threats S-T Strategies W-T Strategies

SO – pursue opportunities good for course WO – overcome weaknesses to pursue opportunities ST – how can you use strengths to reduce vulnerability to threats WT – plan to prevent weaknesses so not susceptible to external threats

Strength:Weakness:Opportunity:Threat –Scenario Marketing a Course

You have noted a decline of about 10 percent annually over the past three years in your enrolments. In addition the quality of the applicants (reduced grade point average/TER and background experience) has declined. You have been asked by your Head of School to work with University marketing to start preparing a new plan to market the course more aggressively to try and increase your enrolments as well as retain your students. A change in strategy is needed.

There is one other University in the State that offers a similar program as well as 5 other programs across Australia.

Five of you

have come together to start conceptualising a marketing plan. They are yourself (CC), University Marketing representative, Student Services Administrative Officer, member of academic staff who teaches in the course, and a final year student.

Use the SWOT analysis tool to analyse the status of your School and how this information can then be used to address the issues related to the marketing of your course.

(Nominate a course to use as your example – for example, Engineering.)

Force Field Analysis

Pressure for Change Pressure Against Change Driving Forces Resisting Forces Strategies…..

Driving Forces should be greater than Resisting Forces

• • • •

Force Field Analysis: Scenario

Indigenisation of the Curriculum

The university has endorsed its Reconciliation Action Plan and one of the elements in it is the Indigenisation of the curriculum. Within your faculty it has been interpreted as the inclusion of one first year unit, followed by vertical integration and the use of examples which specifically relate to Indigenous peoples. Staff are opposed to including a unit at year one level, but support the concept of including some information and examples in some units. You would like to work with the academic faculty staff to try and change their approach and response to the Faculty’s interpretation of the Indigenisation of the curriculum.

You anticipate that there may be some resistance by the staff who are reluctant to give over one unit exclusively to Indigenous content as they believe that their courses should focus on professional content only. There are a couple of staff who you feel could be talked round to support the proposal as they are supportive of the notion of producing graduates who are better adapted to be global citizens and culturally aware.

As you feel strongly about the issue, before calling the staff together for a big meeting to discuss the issue, you decide to do a Force Field Analysis for the meeting and possible resistance to the proposed changes. so you can gain a better perspective on the issue, which will prepare you more readily (Contextualise to a faculty – for example, Health sciences.)

Ishikawa (Fishbone) Diagram

Culture/language •A •B •C

Quality Issue

Group Work Experience Class Size •A •B •C

Ishikawa – Scenario Group Work

• There has been an increase in the number of student complaints about the nature of group work in the course. You have asked

4 other academics

who teach in the course to undertake a quality review of this assessment practice.

• You find that over half of the units have group work assessment ranging in value from 25 to 40 per cent.

• Class sizes in the lower years are in the range of 60 - 100 and in the upper years in the order of 50 – 70.

• Approximately 25 per cent of the students have a first language other than English. Over 90 per cent of these students are from the Asia Pacific region.

(Contextualise to a course – for example,. Architecture.)