Goals, components, and factors considered in university development

It is generally known that the main goals of universities are to produce high-quality graduates for the job market, to continuously advance the frontier of knowledge in all disciplines, and ultimately to advance human civilization. The goals are easier stated than done. In today's competitive and globalized environment, however, there are many pragmatic issues to be considered, and it is imperative that universities employ strategic development planning to identify the specific goals, components, and factors of developrnent. A well-formulated strategic development plan will ensure a synchronized development programs and activities throughout a university system. Universities produce their annual report and calendar, but nothing much is known about their priorities in planning. As such, we decided to conduct a study on eleven (1) foremost public universities in Malaysia, a country with a centralized education System, to examine the goals, components, and factors considered by university top management in planning university- development. We administered a checklist to 296 respondents, comprising deputy vice-chancellors or deputy rectors, registrars. deans, and directors