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ONE HIGHLAND. One Mission. Endless Impact.
Highland Community College’s One Highland: One Mission, Endless Impact (2025–2030) Strategic Plan is organized around six Strategic Imperatives that define our collective priorities and actions for the next five years. Each imperative represents a core promise to our students, our employees and our communities and is grounded in Highland’s mission to provide accessible, high-quality education that changes lives and strengthens rural Kansas.
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These imperatives are interconnected and mutually reinforcing. Together, they provide a roadmap for student success, workforce and transfer excellence, operational agility and long-term sustainability.
Each imperative includes:
- Goals by 2030, which define what success will look like when each imperative is achieved and how Highland will measure progress over time.
- A Bold Idea, also known as a wildly important goal expresses the transformative vision driving the work. It’s the “why” behind the initiative.
- Leading Success Metrics, allow us to monitor progress towards our imperatives month over month.
- Key Priorities, which outline the measurable actions, objectives and key results (OKRs) that move the bold idea from vision to reality.
- This five-year strategic plan includes three years of intervention work with a year of architecture and a year for reflection and future action planning.
This structure ensures that every part of the plan links purpose with performance, translating aspiration into measurable results that strengthen the student experience and institutional excellence. The imperatives are guided by six principles, the enduring commitments that ensure every action aligns with Highland’s purpose and values:
Champion Student Success and Belonging
We design every policy and initiative to advance access, retention, completion and a strong sense of belonging. This focus ensures we are a people first organization.
Invest in People and Culture
We strengthen leadership, enhance human resources practices and foster engagement that promotes satisfaction, growth and well-being.
Embrace Innovation and Adaptability
We pursue creative solutions and adapt quickly to meet evolving student, workforce and community needs across our region.
Practice Stewardship and Sustainability
We manage financial, human, technological and physical resources responsibly to ensure long-term institutional and community vitality.
Lead with Data-Informed Decisions
We use analytics and evidence-based insights to guide planning, accountability and continuous improvement across all institutional areas.
Expand Rural Access
We grow educational and workforce opportunities across our nine-county service area, ensuring equitable access for all learners.
Together, the following imperatives and principles outlined above anchor the work of One Highland. They ensure that every strategy, investment and innovation reflects the College’s enduring mission and shared belief in the power of education to transform lives.
IMPERATIVE 1: NURTURE STUDENT SUCCESS AND ENGAGEMENT
We will ensure every Highland student has the support needed to persist, complete and thrive. By strengthening advising, expanding co-curricular engagement and creating clear academic and career pathways, we will improve retention and graduation rates across all student populations.
By 2030, Highland will have more intentional strategies to support persistence and retention:
- First-year retention will rise to 65%.
- Graduation rates will reach 45%.
- 95% of first-year students will complete a degree plan.
Bold Idea: Every Student Thrives
Highland will create a proactive and holistic student-success model that ensures every learner receives personalized guidance, timely intervention and meaningful engagement opportunities. Advising, academic support and wellness services will be seamlessly integrated to empower persistence and completion.
IMPERATIVE 2: EXPAND ACCESS AND AFFORDABILITY
We will expand access to higher education across rural Kansas and remove barriers to affordability. Highland will grow enrollment, expand dual-credit and early-college programs and
modernize admissions so that students can easily begin — and affordably continue — their educational journey.
By 2030, Highland will improve outreach and meaningful communication with recruits:
- Grow enrollment to 3,000 learners.
- Expand early opportunities by increasing dual-credit and early-college enrollment by 10%.
- Engage more Kansans by boosting postsecondary participation in Northeast Kansas 25%.
- Advance recruitment through a CRM-based Strategic Enrollment process.
Bold Idea: Education Without Barriers
Highland will ensure that geography, cost or circumstance never limit opportunity. The College will simplify processes, expand rural outreach and create equitable pathways that make higher
education attainable for every learner.
