William Jessup University
Introduction
William Jessup University is a Christian school that was started in 1939 after the Great Depression. It began in San Jose before relocating to Rocklin in 2003. The institution has grown steadily since its inception. The immense growth experienced by William Jessup University has faced some challenges. These issues may affect service delivery and the expansion programs of the institution.
Definition of the Project
It is prudent to develop a sustainable plan that will ensure the University achieves its set out objectives. For a long time, the expansion programs were limited by the financial issues that faced the institution. However, the relocation of the main campus to Rocklin, California, proved to be a great strategic move. Student enrollment has increased threefold. Also, the institution has been able to fully refinance all the debts accrued, thus, allowing it to own all its properties and facilities. Currently, William Jessup University is faced with the issue of increasing the online enrollment of students. Also, the institution has to find ways of providing housing for residential students. This paper will discuss the possibilities and the necessary steps that can be taken by the University to overcome its challenges to achieve its targets and objectives.
Diagnosis of Current Situation
The school’s strengths are pegged on its large student enrollment and the increasing demand for Christ-centered education. In the academic year of 2019-2020, the school indicated that the on-campus accommodation was fully occupied. The student population currently stands at about 1900 up from the 14 students who enrolled at the institution in 1939 at its inception. This represents a positive growth rate of about three hundred percent. The student uptake has been made possible through the increased and diversified programs that are offered at the University. About 20 applications are taught at the
The spatial expansion has also been linked to the continued growth in student enrollment (Alberts, 2007). At the time of its foundation, the school was had only two buildings on a land that was less than an acre. Contrastingly, the institution now sits on 126 acres of land. This has allowed for the development of infrastructure and facilities that promote growth. After its relocation to California, the San Jose campus was retained as a graduate school while also accommodating the non-traditional students. This has made it possible to tap into the needs of students who may be working and those that are not within the average age of the undergraduates.
The main weakness facing the expansion programs of the institution is the lack of on-campus housing for the students. Fifty-five percent of the undergraduate population stay off-campus while only forty-five percent get the on-campus residences. Furthermore, the on-campus units are already fully occupied. The unavailability of dormitories limits the overall enrollment outlook of the school because seeking accommodation out of the school premises can be relatively expensive. Thus, potential learners in the University may shy away from seeking admission because their housing needs are not adequately catered.
The Moodle system has its desired advantages; for instance, it is cost-effective because it does not require any unnecessary license costs to be operated. However, in the long run, it has proved to be a weak Learning Management system because it cannot handle massive projects. Since the population of William Jessup University is increasing steadily, the Moodle system may not be suitable to handle such numbers at the moment. Also, the user interface of the system is quite tricky for new users. It requires an induvial to have some background IT information. Thus, more time will be needed in the learning process to be effective. Furthermore, this type of learning management system is relatively slow in functionality because it may take a few minutes before a person can successfully upload a document to Moodle (Costa, Alvelos & Teixeira, 2012). This makes it undesirable for the communication of urgent matters.
William Jessup University continues to enjoy several opportunities that can be utilized to ensure maximum growth. The creation of additional satellite campuses will help to tap into reach students in other states who are unable to take up classes from Rocklin. Other students may be unwilling to attend the sessions from California due to social or economic factors. Also, the University may choose to decentralize some of the undergraduate courses and majors that are exclusively offered at the main campus. For instance, a school can be set up in Illinois that only offers Criminal Justice and History. Setting up of more colleges will help to spur population increase in the campuses.
Moreover, the digital age has presented the online classes which offer great opportunities that the institution can effectively utilize (Warren, 2018). The use of online courses will reduce the strain imposed on the physical classes in the school. Currently, the available classrooms are overbooked. This affects the admission of new learners because there is no room. The online courses provide more flexibility to the students, especially those who are employed (Tactics and Strategies, 2018). It will enable them to study while they go about their daily activities.
The biggest threat facing the operations of the school is the environment within which it operates. The relocation to California means that Christ-centered University has to work within an extremely secularized society. Also, the emergence of Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence pose a threat to student engagement and content delivery (Biocca, & Levy, 2013). The human connection between the learners and the tutors is at risk of being lost. The students may fail to acquire the appropriate skills to facilitate their involvement with the outside world.
Recommendations
The school has to step up the online classes that are being offered. The classroom sessions should be streamlined to allow for online courses to take place at the same time. This way, more students would be able to take up the classes without necessarily having to be present in the physical classrooms. This would increase the enrollment of non-traditional students and individuals in graduate school. The online courses would reduce the issue of classroom utilization while providing the much-needed finances that will be generated from the tuition fees.
The housing demands of resident students can be solved through the establishment of satellite campuses in various states around the US. This would help the students to attend William Jessup University from places that they are most comfortable. Thus, the population that requires on-campus residences will significantly reduce. Since students from the region where the campus is situated would have alternative accommodation, this would allow the University to take up enrollment of learners from far off areas to occupy the on-campus residential units.
The Moodle Learning Management System should be done away with, at least in the meantime. It has proved to be a complicated system to use by the students, and this affects the quality of service delivery. The institution should adopt an LMS that has a user-friendly interface.
Implementations Plan
The University can enter a deal with an investor to help out with the establishment of new houses for resident students. Preferably, the contract should be a lease agreement whereby the school remits a particular fee to the investor in return for the use of the premises by the students. After that, once the premises have depreciated, they can be donated to the institution for possible renovation. The implementation of such a lease can run for about thirty tears.
Summary
The tremendous growth experienced by William Jessup University is a reflection of acute administration that took advantage of the available opportunities. The institution still has significant room for further growth. This will be achieved through the proper utilization of technology, such as the use of online classes.
References
Alberts, H. C. (2007). Beyond the headlines: Changing patterns in international student
enrollment in the United States. GeoJournal, 68(2-3), 141-153.
Biocca, F., & Levy, M. R. (2013). Communication in the age of virtual reality. Routledge.
Costa, C., Alvelos, H., & Teixeira, L. (2012). The use of Moodle e-learning platform: a study in
a Portuguese University. Procedia Technology, 5, 334-343.
Tactics and Strategies. (2018). The Digital Era 1, 133–136. doi: 10.1002/9781119102687.part2
Warren, J. M. (2018). Developing Online Learning in the Helping Professions: Online, Blended,
and Hybrid Models. Springer Publishing Company.