Documents
Click here to view a PDF of the collected input from the fall 2024 All-Campus Ideation Workshop
and Survey.
Throughout the 23-24 year, the consultancy Kennedy & Co. has delivered a series of analytical reports to shed light on education program development opportunities for SMC. Access to Kennedy & Co.'s reports is available to SMC faculty, staff, and administrators through the links below. A brief summary of each report is also provided.
- Santa Monica Market Research
Presented to the Strategic Education Plan Workgroup on Nov. 3, 2023- Kennedy & Co.’s market research report offers a careful look at Los Angeles County demographics, job, and industry data, the better to frame SMC’s opportunities for growth in service to the educational needs of a diverse and evolving regional student population. Notably, the report highlights the demographic shift towards a more Hispanic/Latinx population, a sizable gap in higher education attainment among residents, and the growing demand for healthcare and technology-related occupations. The report emphasizes SMC’s need to offer accessible education while tailoring programs to suit the needs of underrepresented communities and the changing job market.
- Discovery Insights & Program Demand
Presented to the Strategic Education Plan Workgroup on Dec. 1, 2023- Kennedy & Co.’s second report for SMC includes insights from interviews with over 50 stakeholders whose feedback emphasizes the need to balance the college's historic strength in transfer education with growing demand for career education and a continue push for high-quality wrap-around services. The report identifies five key themes, including the development of SMC's brand and infrastructure to support both transfer and career education in the face of changing demographics, the continued development of more comprehensive and culturally responsive services, the need for more intentional and salient support for the college's online leaners, and, finally, the importance of steady coordination of the strategic plan for education and other key planning documents. Significantly, the consultants also identified areas for improvement in SMC’s data collection and management protocols, particularly for academic program enrollment trends. The report also analyzed the top twenty largest sectors of regional employer demand for employees possessing a bachelor’s degree or higher. These prospects are meant to inform SMC’s possible program development opportunities in transfer degrees and potentially in stackable certificates leading to transfer in high-demand job markets. The relative strengths and weaknesses of each education market are analyzed so as to help SMC prioritize program opportunities in relation to its own strengths, ambitions, and limitations.
- Legacy Program
Presented to the Strategic Education Plan Workgroupon Jan. 31, 2024- In its analysis of SMC’s “legacy” programs, Kennedy & Company evaluates the salient strengths and weaknesses of SMC’s program inventory. The report outlines current and future market and demographic trends to shed light on program demand and enrollment expectations for SMC’s largest programs, fastest growing, and slowest growing programs. Limitations in SMC’s data structure are also noted, indicating a need for improved alignment of enrollment and program data for better tracking of trends over time.