UGA IPSO | International Visitors

UGA International Public Service and Outreach | International Visitors

Benon Kalema Program Report:
"Strategic Planning in Higher Education"

June 2008

Mr. Benon Kalema seated in the Fanning board room

In July 2007 the Office of International Public Service and Outreach (IPSO) was contacted by Mr. Benon Kalema, newly-appointed head of the Planning Office at Nkumba University (Entebbe, Uganda), about the possibility for a one-month self-study program on the topics of "Strategic Planning in Higher Education." Although originally scheduled for the late fall of 2007, it was not until May 2008 that everything was in place for Mr. Kalema's visit, including financing, logistics, and program details.

Mr. Kalema arrived in Atlanta on Thursday, May 15 and was greeted at the airport by Dr. Glenn Ames, Director of IPSO. IPSO arranged his accommodations at the College Park Communities Apartment Complex, The Club, which is located on Riverbend Parkway in Athens. This location is conveniently serviced by the UGA Bus Route which would provide Mr. Kalema with a certain amount of mobility while on campus.

The program officially began on Friday, May 16, when Mr. Kalema met with Deborah Gonzalez, Esq., Assistant Director of IPSO, for an orientation session to go over the objectives of the program, the timetable of scheduled visits, and Mr. Kalema's expectations. The following objectives were identified:

Understand a definition of "strategic planning" as a dynamic process;

Learn about methodologies of strategic planning and factors affecting its successful implementation;

Explore "best practices" of strategic planning, implementation of the plan, and evaluation of its effectiveness; and

Make contacts for potential cross-institutional collaborations between Nkumba University and UGA, as well as other institutions in the USG systems (such as Georgia Perimeter College) and private institutions in Atlanta (Clark Atlanta University)

Mr. Kalema with Dr. Ames

Meeting with Dr. Boehmer

Mr. Kalema with Dr. Bezuneh and Dean Davis of CAU

Meeting with Dr. Dempsey

Kalema's expectations for the program were:

To achieve the above-listed objectives;
To submit a proposal to the Carl Vinson Institute of Government concerning their social work department;
To discuss and submit a proposal to the Institute for African Studies; and
That IPSO will have made the right connections and provide the right opportunities for the study to be successful.

All four program objectives were met. The only expectation that was not fulfilled was the opportunity to discuss a proposal with the Institute for African Studies. It was the only UGA campus unit that did not have anyone available to meet during Mr. Kalema's visit.

The one-month program (May 15-June 17), as developed, included:

12 UGA Campus Meetings
3 Off-campus Meeting/Visits
1 Full Day of Lean Six Sigma Training (GPC)
1 Organized Social Event (Bulldawg Breakfast)
4 Informal Social Events (Dinners, Party and Happy Hour)
1 Orientation Session
1 End of Program Debriefing

The End of Program Debriefing consisted of a two-hour discussion session to recap each experience and interaction Kalema had had during the program, to outline next steps and an action plan for when he returned to Nkumba, and to offer an opportunity for evaluation of the program and reflection on what had been achieved. A "Debriefing Exercise" evaluation and outcome form was created for this purpose and proved very useful. In the evaluation Mr. Kalema wrote "The debriefing exercise was something I had not encountered before. It was very useful to prepare me mentally to write my report and to evaluate the program." The debriefing exercise also allowed IPSO to get feedback on the program in a structured, but in a comfortable manner.

Meeting with Dr. Williams

Mr. Kalema at the Bulldawg Breakfast with Randy Groomes

Meeting with Dr. Toma and Dr. Morphew

Meeting with Dr. Gittleman

Mr. Kalema was given the opportunity to meet with various administrators and faculty of UGA to discuss their roles and "best practices" in relation to strategic planning and/or implementation. Each meeting provided outstanding information and reference materials for Mr. Kalema to take back with him and he seemed to be more and more impressed as each meeting feed off the previous one. The objective was to give Kalema a sense of strategic planning from an institutional view and then how each department filtered the "vision" down.

Using Kalema's debriefing exercise comments the meetings can be summarized as follows:

Person/Institution Comments

Gabriel Wilner, Don Johnson, School of Law Open to cooperation; possibility of developing LLM program for Nkumba's School of Law; ability to accommodate Nkumba student in UGA's LLM

Robin Tricoli, UGA Deep insight into implementation of strategic plan and monitoring; hers will be his role in Nkumba; learned a lot; great visual aids; appreciated the gift "From Good to Great"

William Kisaalita, CAES Possible proposal project between UGA's CAES and Nkumba; UGA research students in Uganda now

Steve Dempsey, OVPPSO Very outgoing; open to collaboration; UGA strategic planning process; interest in processes; touched by Women's Outreach Program

Bob Boehmer, UGA Very welcoming person; importance of research for institutional effectiveness; the relationship between accreditation and strategic implementation; special accreditations

Rob Williams, Fanning Impressed with the breadth of his knowledge; psychological viewpoints on the strategic planning and implementation process; Kiva.org for micro financing; Women's Outreach program

Keith Oelke, Office of Development Nkumba does not have this "necessary" office and it will be an objective for Mr. Kalema when he goes back; Mr. Kalema received a good understanding of how this office works; "the passion of the story"

Bob Galen, College of Public Health Possible Public Health Institute at Nkumba collaboration with UGA; possible collaboration on an HIV/AIDS project; Uganda's VP as guest at CPH's Global Health Symposium this year; Bob to visit Uganda in the fall; timing is good for collaboration with Uganda as they just hired two Ugandan professors

Jennifer Frum, CVIOG Submission of proposal for social science project. Frum had been to Uganda before.

Randy Groomes, Alumni Association Bulldawg Breakfast was marvelous; Nkumba does not have strong alumni development so this is another area Mr. Kalema wants to bring back with him; enjoyed the discussion on "diversity" in higher education

John Gittleman, Ecology Open to collaboration in terms of research on environmental sustainability; perhaps a Lake Victoria Environment Management Project proposal

Doug Toma and Chris Morphew, IHE Both have been to Uganda and currently have a relationship with Makarere University in terms of higher ed training that can be useful to Nkumba and other institutions in the area; conversation on student financing options

Maria Gimenez, School of Law Development of training program for Ugandan judges; offered to waive program fee for two Ugandan judges to participate in the next program; internships

Mike Beck, CVIOG Lunch; governance programs in Liberia and China

In addition, Mr. Kalema had three offsite visits (and one training):

Shelley Nickels, Associate Chancellor, Board of Regents, Atlanta
Ms. Nickels discussed the strategic vision of the Board of Regents; which Kalema believes is a missing element in Nkumba's Board of Trustees.

Narendra Patel, Director of Planning, Implementation and Research, Clark Atlanta University, Atlanta
Mr. Patel gave Mr. Kalema a primer on concepts, tools and methodologies of strategic planning in a private institution of higher education and how it is different from the public sector.

Anthony Tricoli, President, Georgia Perimeter College, Clarkston
President Tricoli graciously hosted Kalema in a full-day training on "Lean Six Sigma" a quality management system for customer service in higher education. During the training they also had the opportunity to discuss possible collaborations, including faculty and student exchanges.

Mr. Kalema with Dr. Gimenez

Meeting with Mike Beck

Meeting with Dr. Robin Tricoli

Meeting with Mr. Patel (CAU)

Mr. Kalema left Athens and UGA in early June. He had completed an intense one-month guided study on the topic of "strategic planning in higher education" but knew he still had a lot of work ahead of him back home in Nkumba University. By being physically away from Nkumba and having the time to dedicate to this issue, he was able to reflect on what he learned to better apply it for his institution. He left equipped with tools and resources, tons of ideas and plans and his first taste of pizza! He expressed his experience best in the program evaluation "a wonderful and meaningful program that is very much aligned with IPSO's mission of working with people to enhance quality of life by extending university knowledge and resources. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend to anyone who wants positive change in their organization or institution."

IPSO also emerged with some significant benefits and lessons learned:

First, Mr. Kalema's visit evolved from an informal setup of a couple of meetings, to a specifically designed and sequenced series of visits with stated objectives and purpose. Necessitating resources not originally conceived for the original visit concept, the structured program offered more in terms of academic rigor and value, but also required more time commitment for prior research and preparation. In essence, the program is now a replicable model that can be offered to future visiting scholars to UGA.
Second, through this program, IPSO has been able to make new connections throughout the USG system and strengthen existing relationships that can lead to future collaborations and added-value services for Georgia as well as for UGA's international contacts.
Third, the program also served to educate IPSO on the USG/UGA strategic planning process. This is important as IPSO is looking at, revising and creating at times, its own development and strategic plans as it works towards becoming a fully acknowledged and integral asset for UGA and USG in terms of international relationship building and internal capacity building for faculty and administrators.

Meeting with Jennifer Frum

Mr. Kalema enjoying his first pizza with Kat Cason and Mildred Bell

Meeting with Keith Oelke

Mr. Kalema with the IPSO Office Staff