University of Missouri system leaders explore ways to increase engagement, enrollment
The University of Missouri system curators and leaders met Tuesday in Columbia to hear and discuss strategies and goals to improve the the image and better establish the mission of the university system.
System president Mun Choi kicked off the two-day development session with a presentation that highlighted the need for an improvement within the system. Choi pulled statistics and examples from other universities across the country to compare to each of the four schools within the UM system to illustrate the work to be done.
The next presentation came from Marshall Stewart, the vice chancellor of extension and engagement at Mizzou. He focused on how the system could reach out to prospective students, elected leaders, alumni and Missouri citizens.
During his presentation, curators and system leaders broke up into small groups to brainstorm ways to foster that engagement. One example Stewart presented was to push for a 3 percent average growth to funding for the university system from the legislative level. Another idea would be to work on finding more paid internships for students.
Stewart also introduced the idea that Mizzou will start a new branding effort, similar to one done at University of Wisconsin – Madison.
A concrete plan Stewart presented was a new working group that he thinks can facilitate new ways to engage the greater Missouri public. He said it will be a way to come up with actionable ideas.
There will also be a presentation on new enrollment strategies to increase the number of students that MU has lost in the past few years. Enrollment at the University of Missouri dropped almost seven percent from fall 2015 to fall 2016.
