Methodology for Developing a Strategy for Implementing Digital Technologies

9. Conclusion

Through detailed narration and practical examples, this material has presented a comprehensive methodology for developing a strategy for the application of digital technologies in higher education. We showed how the strategic planning continuum links analysis, formulation, implementation, and evaluation into an ongoing process of adaptability and learning. We explained the key elements of strategy—mission, vision, core values, strategic initiatives, and SMART goals—their characteristics, and criteria for effective formulation. We demonstrated the use of SWOT, KREDA, PESTLE, benchmarking, and user needs analysis for precise diagnosis and decision-making. We presented participatory methods for defining mission and vision—including workshops, interviews, the Delphi method, and future-back approaches—as the foundation for collective consensus.

In this document, we also provided examples of basic strategic elements for four higher education institutions from Croatia and four from around the world. While these can serve as inspiration for creating our own strategic documents, at least two notes should be kept in mind. The first concerns the fact that, as there are different strategic planning systems on the one hand, and different historical practices of strategic planning in different geographical areas on the other, the understanding and semantics of vision and mission are not entirely the same across regions. While in Croatia (and much of Europe) we begin by defining the mission and consider it a permanent element (our long-term purpose) that may not change over several strategic planning cycles, in the U.S. context, the mission is defined after the vision and has a more short-term character, indicating the current state of what we do. The second note concerns the definition and organization of strategic goals. We have seen that SMART principles are rarely followed, which is not good practice because the ability to measure the realization of strategic goals that are not defined according to SMART principles is weaker and may lead to confusion. Therefore, in the next step of strategic planning, it is important to operationalize (instrumentalize) strategic goals into lower-level goals with associated measures, which will consequently enable the measurement of strategic goals.