Educational institutes to community- do you copy?

"Hello, this is your local Tertiary calling....Community....are you there?"

So is it that no-one is listening, or it simply the fact that Tertiaries do not know how to effectively manage the 'Third Area of Work'?  Steve Maharey, Vice Chancellor of Massey University recently referred to Stakeholder Engagement as this 'Third Area' in his recent interview last weekend on
Q & A.


http://tvnz.co.nz/q-and-a-news/steve-maharey-university-education-headed-video-5448324

So the checklist for Tertiaries is Simple:

1/ Students
2/ Research
3/ Engagement

'The Third Area of Work', simply put is engagement of community.  This would be in the form of short courses, consultancy, research, perhaps joint commercialisation projects, or more simply, school liaison for future students.  Perhaps its industry engagement- having a supply of takers for the products of their labour- graduated students?

I am passionate about this area. I have spoken to no fewer than 4 institutes in the recent weeks, all with the same story.  Our tertiaries don't see themselves as Sales engines.
Well, I do have to tell the institutes, you are wrong!  Of course you sell things!  You sell courses, research and consultancy.  Ah, you say...but I work in a capped environment.....I say, but you still have to meet your numbers and deliver on your promises.  Isn't the International student market where we are competing on the world stage....its most certainly about sell, sell, sell.  So why are our domestic and international markets so different- .......government calling- are you there??  A small issue around funding and capping I imagine.  Just a guess?

It still surprises me why our business diplomas and degrees lack sales papers.  Even last week I spoke to someone studying a current Diploma in Business- I asked them if any sales papers were included and they said no!  No wonder we don't have a Sales focus- one of our most popular business programmes in NZ and it totally lacks one of the key elements needed in almost all businesses!

If you want to sell to community, you must gain trust and respect.  You must engage with them on a regular basis, not just when you want donations or help at graduation ceremonies.  You need to form real relationships based on delivery, quality and reputation.

This is why I'm  staggered that institutes are still managing without Stakeholder Engagement systems to track and manage these key relationships.  After-all as Steve Maharey puts it "Its the 3rd Area of Work".  So I leave you to ponder on this thought.  Institutes have Student Management Systems to track Students,  Research Management Systems to track research, Finance Management Systems to track Finance.....but no systems to track Stakeholder Engagement.  If this is the Third Area of work, where is the third system to track these important engagements?

I truly believe this is a critical area to track and manage and a risk area if you don't.   Business Mechanix www.businessmechanix.co.nz have a wealth of knowledge in the area of Tertiary Stakeholder Engagement as well as Commercial Stakeholder and contact management, they can put a relationship management solution in today to help get this sorted as well as processes to manage and training for your staff.  If you aren't doing something about it....who's to blame?  How important is your third area of work?