Hartford Business Journal

14 Hartford Business Journal • August 21, 2017 www.HartfordBusiness.com FOCUS CONTINUING AND GRADUATE EDUCATION FOR PROFESSIONALS AND EXECUTIVES Q&A Post Univ. restructuring adopts student-first culture Q&A talks with Post University President John L. Hopkins about the college's recent rebranding and structural changes. Q: PostUniversity recently announced a rebranding as part of a broader culture change at the college. What's involved with the rebranding and how is the school's culture shifting? A: Post University has been around for 127 years. As we continue to evolve as a relevant, education innovator, we have contemporized Post's visual iden- tify as emblematic of recent sig- nificant changes that occurred, most especially an emphasis on a personalized student experience. We've made personalizing the entire student experience the DNA of everything we do, streamlining student processes to ensure students receive a seam- less experience from enrollment to commencement and making a substantial investment in state-of- the-art learning tools. This helps ensure our custom- ers (our students) walk away with a quality learning experience and a new level of market- ability. It's our value proposition. Q: As part of the rebranding, Post says it will put a greater focus on personalized learning for students. What does that mean and what are some examples? A: The keystone of Post's personalized approach to education is our focus on our new "Five Keys to Personalization." They include: support teams that are fully involved with students from day one; a student advisory staff now doubled in size to be more receptive to student needs; faculty inclusion on support teams from the start … not just when students take their class; re-engineered student readi- ness tests to anticipate challenges and eliminate failure potential, so students complete their programs; and new investments in a multitude of advanced technological learn- ing tools to enhance the experi- ence and ensure all students grasp course concepts, for example, before moving on. To effect this personalization, every students is assigned an aca- demic success coach and an entire support team to guide them through every step of their education process. Q: What was the impetus for the rebranding? A: Higher education is broken. Too often, colleges are more about themselves than their students. We believe students aren't an after- thought or an issue to be dealt with — they are the reason we exist. They deserve our atten- tion. This is all about instilling greater cus- tomer service into higher education. This approach was my goal from the day I arrived (in 2016). Instilling a new culture in a legacy institution doesn't happen overnight. First, we educated our associates on the "student-first" approach and how it produces successful, business-ready graduates, then needed buy-in and a change in behaviors by everyone on campus. It took pretty much the year to get where we are today — a higher education provider with a 'top-down' commitment to serve students first by providing each of them a personalized learning experience. Q: Higher education competition is very intense in Connecticut, especially as our state's population shrinks. How has Post University's enrollment held up recently, both for online students and students who attend class on campus? A: We're fortunate to be more than holding our own in a crowded, competitive field. Not only is our rebranding initiative attracting the attention of the academic community, it's having a significant effect on student enroll- ment, satisfaction and retention. Our spring 2017 enrollment at the main campus (in Waterbury) was the largest we've experienced in 17 years, while online enroll- ment increased as well. January's online num- bers were the largest in two years for Post. And, the good news is it isn't confined just to heightened satisfaction among cur- rent students. Alumni surveys show more than eight in 10 graduates are pleased with their academic experience, with 95 per- cent saying their Post degree has held or increased in value. Q: What trends are you seeing in the graduate programs space? A: Our Malcolm Baldrige School of Busi- ness continues to experience the steadiest growth in graduate students. This reflects the findings of a 2016 Market Intelligence Trends Survey, which found growth in roughly half of all graduate business programs. We're also seeing growth in online graduate programs. And Post is on-trend in regards to our rede- signed MBA curriculum launching this fall, which can be completed in a shorter period of time and reflects the analytical skills, knowl- edge, and experience our research has dem- onstrated graduates need to actively contrib- ute to an effective and competitive workplace. Students will see a reduction in the total number of required credits, from 45 to 36. n Quality Construction + Butler Manufacturing = Repeat Customers www.borghesibuilding.com © 2011 BlueScope Buildings North America, Inc. All rights reserved. Butler Manufacturing™ is a division of BlueScope Buildings North America, Inc. 2155 East Main Street • Torrington, Connecticut 06790 The Belknap White Group, Hartford, CT | 2012 | 15,300 sq. ft. Northeast Beverage, Orange, CT 2006 | 97,000 sq. ft. Contact us at 1-855-BUILD-86 or visit us on the web. JOHN L. HOPKINS President, Post University JRUDY@HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM | P: 860-236-9998 WWW.HARTFORDBUSINESS.COM IN PRINT. ONLINE. IN PERSON OF HARTFORD SUBSCRIBERS ARE THE NUMBER-ONE DECISION MAKERS AT THEIR BUSINESS. 92% To fi nd out more on how to reach your best customers, call Jaime Rudy, Sales Director, at 860-236-9998 x 124 or jrudy@HartfordBusiness.com * Circulation Veri cation Council Audit Report/Readership Survey: April 1, 2014 - December 31, 2015. REACH YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE THROUGH THE HARTFORD BUSINESS JOURNAL

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