STRATEGIC ACADEMIC PROGRAM PRIORITIZATION: IN THEORY AND PRACTICE

Not every college or university can offer every degree program. Whether it is times of abundant resources or times, similar to the last decade, when higher education has faced severe budget reduction, higher education leaders must decide which programs to add to their institutions and which programs to close. In the last decade many colleges, universities, and university systems have undergone formal programs of assessing academic degrees under the banner of program prioritization, "right sizing", program quality review, and/or low-producing program reviews. This study examines the models proposed for university program prioritization found in the academic literature with those in actual use over the last decade. The objective of this study is to determine which approaches did universities actually use compared to models prescribed in the literature in the hope of providing insight to higher education administrators considering this form of planning tool.