Incoming New Jersey Institute of Technology President Teik Lim said he has a full grasp of the growth of the school during the leadership of its outgoing president, Joel Bloom.
And he doesn’t want to mess it up.
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“I’m working with him to ensure a smooth transition, so we don’t hit a bump in the road or skip a beat,” he said. “Given the strong foundation and the amazing ascension of NJIT under Joel, we now have a golden opportunity to further enhance and accelerate the rise of NJIT to become a preeminent public polytechnic research university in the region and globally.
“To address this challenge and seize on the opportunity, I have developed an acronym called IDEATE as an overarching strategy.”
Here how’s it goes, in Lim’s words:
I stands for INFRASTRUCTURE: That includes physical and virtual tools that we need to develop a digital campus that transcends space and time. The pandemic didn’t change the course of higher ed, it simply accelerated us into the future. The digital era came to businesses a long time ago. Now is the time for higher ed to catch up. Anyone that does well will be at the forefront of success.
D stands for DIVERSIFICATION: In the case, a diversity of revenue streams, which is critically important to the sustainability of NJIT.
E stands for ENROLLMENT STRATEGY: Our strategy and our growth must be based on discipline, degrees and modalities. It’s not just about first-time-in-college students coming here as freshman to get a degree. Some will be adults looking for upskilling. We need to be willing to have students coming during different paths of their life. Not everybody will come to NJIT for a degree. Some will seek a certificate. Some will just want a particular course.
A stands for ADVANCEMENT: That includes philanthropy and engagement. Either way, it’s all about relationship building.
T stands for TALENT POOL: Higher ed people will talk about publish or perish. I will tell the faculty that’s gone — out the window. Now, it’s either collaborate or perish. We need to hire top-notch people that are team players. I don’t want top-notch people that work in silos. I was telling some of the deans here, don’t hire somebody until another dean is interested in working with that candidate. We need collaboration.
E stands for EXCELLENCE in EQUITY: We will talk a lot about equity diversity in everything that we do. We have to shoot for excellence, we have to shoot for representation and equity.
