Video lesson: Creating Guidelines for Ensuring the Well-Being of Employees and Students at a Higher Education Institution?

Interview with: NINA BEGIČEVIĆ REĐEP, PhD, Full Prof. Welcome to the video lesson dedicated to an important topic for every higher education institution – the development of guidelines for ensuring the well-being of employees and students of higher education institutions using the methodology of strategic planning. Investing in the well-being of employees and students is not only an ethical obligation but also a strategic advantage that contributes to productivity, engagement, better results, and the creation of a positive academic culture. In this video lesson, a brief overview of the elements of strategic planning that are an integral part of the process of developing guidelines is presented: strategic areas, goals, activities, and measurable indicators for ensuring the well-being of employees and students. Strategic planning aims to make fundamental decisions and undertake fundamental activities in accordance with the set goals, mission, and vision. Through the strategic planning process, an organization determines its goals, priorities, and strategies and defines measures to assess the success of achieving those goals. Strategic planning is systematically focused on the realization of goals and the productivity of actions. It includes the choice of priorities, which implies making decisions about strategic goals and resources. It responds to the circumstances of a dynamic, turbulent environment. Strategic planning means building the commitment of all stakeholders to it. Q: What are strategic goals and how are they determined and formulated? NINA BEGIČEVIĆ REĐEP, PhD, Full Prof.: Strategic areas are one of the elements of strategic planning, they are an integral part of the strategy, and practically represent certain priorities at the strategic level. Goals—we need to define them according to strategic areas and, of course, aligned with other elements of strategic planning such as mission, vision, and of course, goals and activities that lean on the goal. As for the goals themselves, we define them according to strategic areas. After that, it is necessary to determine activities that must be realized to achieve those goals and other elements that can be an integral part of the action plan that leans on the strategy, consisting, of course, of indicators as well as resources and responsible persons who need to be defined to realize activities and, of course, achieve the goals within the strategic areas. Q: Can you give us an example of a strategic area in the context of the Guidelines for ensuring the well-being of employees and students of higher education institutions? NINA BEGIČEVIĆ REĐEP, PhD, Full Prof.: Regarding strategic areas related to ensuring well-being, one of the strategic areas should certainly be the mental health of university employees, and likewise of students, because mental health is a key part of well-being. One of the goals, for example, which is very important in the context of the university and its faculties, is the establishment of counseling centers for teachers, university staff, and also for students of higher education institutions. Strategic goals are desired knowledge or outcomes and represent what the organization wants and plans to achieve in a certain period. They are focused on results and are followed by activities. Strategic goals are defined based on identified strategic issues and represent the central element of the strategic planning process. Strategic goals should be determined according to the SMART principle, which means they should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Given a specific strategic area, an example of a goal could be to establish a university faculty counseling center with full-time working hours by the beginning of the academic year 2026/2027. Operationalization breaks goals down into specific activities that must be undertaken to achieve that goal, and indicators provide concrete measurable signs of success. When activities are defined, it is easier to determine responsibilities for their implementation (who is in charge of which activity and within what timeframe). Without clear activities and responsibilities, strategic goals can remain at the level of plans without actual implementation. The operationalization of strategic goals needs to be carried out in the following steps. First, determining the activities by which the strategic goal will be achieved. Second, determining monitoring mechanisms for the level of goal achievement (key performance indicators, KPI). Third, setting deadlines within which activities need to be carried out. Fourth, determining the responsible person and activity holder for achieving each goal. Fifth, allocating or forecasting resources needed to achieve the activities. An example of an activity could be: form a working group to establish a counseling center or develop a detailed work plan proposal for the counseling center. Activity holders: higher education institution management. Indicators: working group formed, counseling center work plan developed. As we have seen, strategic planning provides a structured approach to developing guidelines for ensuring the well-being of our academic community. By defining strategic areas, clear goals, specific activities, and measurable indicators, we lay the foundations for the systematic improvement of the quality of life of our employees and students. In addition to goals, we determine activities, deadlines, responsibilities, and assign resources to them. We also monitor and measure set indicators, and in this way, goals are achieved. This process represents a continuous cycle of planning, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation that will enable us to adapt to the needs of our academic community and work on creating a better and more supportive environment.