If you do not know where you are going, it is difficult to reach your destination.

With that axiom in mind, the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) embarked on a journey in May 2006 to craft an agency strategic plan to guide the Board and staff in focusing their goals, energies, deliberations, and activities.

The purpose of the planning process was to focus IBHE priorities, define the goals and outcomes the Board seeks to achieve, and to target the agency’s resources on a policy, budget, and legislative agenda that best addresses the needs of the citizens of Illinois. A new strategic plan has been viewed by Board members and staff as a needed successor to The Illinois Commitment, which is regarded as an important statement of principles and ideals, but inadequate as an explicit roadmap to guide a policy agenda to meet the demands of the global innovation economy, the changing demographic face of Illinois, and the emerging competitive landscape of higher education.

The strategic plan, IBHE 2011 A Strategic Plan for the Illinois Board of Higher Education, is the product of a lengthy, thoughtful, and thorough process to identify the core mission of the Illinois Board of Higher Education and define a set of goals, strategies, and measures to focus the agency’s efforts and resources on vital educational needs of Illinois.

IBHE 2011 provides:

• A statement of mission: Access to an affordable, high-quality postsecondary education to meet the needs of all Illinois residents.
  
  
• A statement of vision: Strengthen the state’s economic and social fabric through success in postsecondary degree completion for all residents.
  
  
• Four goals to guide the agency’s policy, budgetary, and legislative focus:
  
  
  • Affordability – Help ensure that college is affordable to all Illinoisans.
    
    
• Attainment – Improve educational attainment through a seamless P-20 system of high-quality teaching and learning, through an increased focus and outreach to nontraditional students, and through stronger emphasis on preparing graduates in high-demand workforce areas.
  
  
• Diversity – Work to increase access and success in a more diverse college student body and faculty ranks, including those with disabilities.
  
  
• Efficiency – Promote efficiency and accountability in higher education operations.

IBHE 2011 also recognizes that a strategic plan is the roadmap, not the destination. The plan concludes with a pledge that the staff shall report annually to the Board on progress in achieving the goals, the actions undertaken, the results of those activities, and recommendations for revising and updating the roadmap along the way.