I. UNIVERSITY MISSION

World Mission University is guided by the mission statement adopted in 2011, which reads:

World Mission University empowers people through transformational biblical education to serve the church and impact the world for Christ.

II. UNIVERSITY GOALS

The University has established three broad goals to guide its operations during the 2022-2027 period. They are:
    1. Enlarge educational commitment and leadership beyond ministry-oriented education to broadly impact Korean and other ethnic communities.
    2. Build an ethnically diverse, biblically oriented student body representing genuine diversity in life experiences and vocational goals.
    3. Elevate the utilization of innovative technology to enhance teaching, learning and administrative functions, increasing access to education for local and global students.
    4. Establish spiritual formation as a central component of our theological curriculum.
    5. Elevate our long-term sustainability by investing in faculty and staff and strengthening financial and other vital resources.

III. STRATEGIC PLANNING PROCESS

The University’s previous comprehensive strategic plan covered the 5-year period from 2017 to 2022. In order to sustain existing strategic objectives and develop new priorities, a strategic planning task force was assembled during spring 2021 with the end goal of launching a new strategic plan in fall 2022. The task force comprised vice president and VP(Academics), dean of planning and institutional effectiveness, director of theology programs, dean of admissions and public relations, and librarian and director of institutional research. The task force has worked methodically, beginning with a survey soliciting local pastors’ perceptions about the University, pastoral ministry and leadership, and congregational needs during and after the pandemic. The task force then established the university’s long-term goals, while reflecting on the school’s challenges and opportunities. After soliciting input from our faculty, staff, students, and alumni from fall 2021 to spring 2022, the task force finally began the work of formulating objectives and actions. The Revised draft of the 2022-2027 strategic plan was presented and approved on September 28, 2023.

VI. CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

WMU community is keenly aware of what is happening on campus and beyond and is accustomed to accepting the challenges it faces as opportunities to elevate the University to a higher level. For us, challenges and opportunities fall into four overarching themes: innovative technology, enrollment growth, spiritual formation, and community engagement.

Integration of technology in teaching and learning has accelerated during the pandemic. Consequently, what digital education really achieves has now become a major question for theological schools. WMU’s culture of planning and evaluation has enabled us to embrace technology-based instruction relatively early, receiving approval for comprehensive distance education from the Association of Theological Schools in 2013. The persisting global pandemic has given us a great opportunity to concentrate on evaluating, improving, and expanding our digital theological education.

Like other tuition-driven schools, WMU has tried to boost its student enrollment by adding new degree programs and alternative learning methods. While these strategies have had a positive impact on the school’s overall enrollment, certain trends have raised significant concerns, which were already noted during the 2018 ATS evaluation for reaffirmation of accreditation. One of the most vital tasks for us today is to revitalize the programs for pastoral leadership (MDiv and DMin). This challenge has in fact energized us to explore innovative ways of equipping people for pastoral leadership in the Korean church context.

The impetus for an in-depth reflection on the school’s work of preparing and supporting pastoral leaders was provided in 2021 by Lilly Endowment’s Pathways for Tomorrow Initiative. The initial grant enabled our faculty to collaborate on a year-long research project that produced significant results with far-reaching implications. For example, we discovered that as far as Korean congregations were concerned personal integrity and spiritual maturity were the two most important qualities of an effective pastoral leader. We also found that the two most important qualities Korean pastors and congregations looked for when recruiting and hiring pastoral staff were spiritual and personal maturity and concrete knowledge and experience of congregational ministry. The 2021 faculty research underlined the centrality of spiritual formation in theological curriculum.

An active engagement with the vibrant Korean community in Southern California has been an important tradition of WMU sustained by its leadership. For instance, our founding president Dr. Dong Sun Lim and his successor Dr. Jung Myung Song were not only powerful preachers but also prominent community activists who had led church coalitions to address social issues such as racial tensions between African American and Korean American communities. The current president has taken his own approach – storytelling – to meaningfully connecting with alumni, donors, supporters, pastors, and friends. WMU has a significant opportunity to explore the targeted use of social media to broaden community engagement for constituents and to increase awareness about how giving impacts students and programs.

VII. OBJECTIVES, ACTION PLANS, KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Objective 1 (Degree Programs): We will continue to improve existing degree programs and explore new degree initiatives to address the needs of students as well as to build a diverse student body.

Action Plans

    1. 1-1

      Continue to improve the Master of Divinity with greater emphasis on spiritual formation by adding new courses and requiring spirituality portfolio for individual students. Faculty will offer a new spiritual formation course in spring 2023. The spiritual formation program, based on the Connected Life Model, will be launched in Spring 2023. (Done)

      Key performance indicators: new courses (Spiritual Formation and Discipline, Spiritual Formation and Coaching), Spirituality Portfolio Chart, Spiritual Transformation Inventory

    1. 1-2

      Continue to improve the Doctor of Ministry by creating a Counseling and Coaching with Spiritual Formation Program concentration. The new concentration will be offered in fall 2022. (Done)

      Key performance indicators: DMin curriculum, enrollment data (five new students each year)

    1. 1-3

      Continue to improve the Master of Global Leadership by creating two concentrations: Social Work and Christian Coaching. The new concentrations will be offered in fall 2022. (Done)

      Key performance indicators: MAGLSW, MAGLCH curriculum, enrollment data (five new students each year)

    1. 1-4

      Explore multiple versions of the Master of Arts and Bachelor of Arts with a view toward attracting students from diverse ethnic backgrounds. The English version of the MA and BA program will be first offered in fall 2022; the Spanish version in fall 2025. (English Program Done)

      Key performance indicators: MA curriculum, enrollment data (ten new students for each MA annually)

    1. 1-5

      Continue to develop a new doctoral degree program (PhD in Practical Theology) and complete the approval process by summer 2023. (Done)

      Key performance indicators: PhD curriculum, enrollment data (ten new students each year)

    1. 1-6

      Continue to develop Doctor of Worship Studies and complete the approval process by spring 2024. (In Progress)

      Key performance indicators: DWS curriculum, enrollment data (ten new students each year)

    1. 1-7

      Launch Master of Nursing degree program and complete the approval process by summer 2026. (New)

      Key performance indicators: MSN curriculum, CCNE Accreditation, ABHE Accreditation and BPPE Authorization

  1. 1-8

    Launch Master of Bachelor of Arts in Accounting program and complete the approval process by summer 2025. (New)

    Key performance indicators: BAA curriculum, ABHE Accreditation and BPPE Authorization

Objective 2 (Faculty): We will continue to expand, support, and develop faculty to adequately support new and existing degree programs, students from diverse backgrounds, and multiple instructional modalities.

Action Plans

    1. 2-1

      Continue to improve faculty support with a particular attention to adequate compensation, appropriate workload, and research grants. (In Progress)

      Key performance indicators: faculty compensation plan, faculty workload policy, faculty contract, research grants

    1. 2-2

      Increase faculty development sessions, particularly on spiritual formation, cultural competency, educational technologies, and online and hybrid courses. (In Progress)

      Key performance indicators: faculty development program

    1. 2-3

      Expand full-time faculty to support new and existing programs, with a particular emphasis on finding faculty with the appropriate subject mastery and a strong commitment to pedagogy and scholarly and creative works. (In Progress)

      Key performance indicators: ratio of FTE students to full-time faculty, faculty CVs, faculty publications and/or professional activities, faculty evaluations

  1. 2-4

    Create endowed or partially endowed chairs to promote and support faculty members who are leaders in their field. (One Chair Done)

    Key performance indicators: endowed chairs, faculty CVs, faculty publications and/or professional activities

Objective 3 (Students): We will attract and retain more students by increasing marketing locally and globally and expanding student services such as financial assistance and academic advisement.

Action Plans

    1. 3-1

      Increase highly qualified and diverse students to 800 within five years. (In Progress)

      Key performance indicators: student enrollment data

    1. 3-2

      Build a viable community of students for new and existing degree programs, particularly the Master of Arts, Doctor of Ministry, and PhD in Practical Theology. (In Progress)

      Key performance indicators: enrollment data for individual programs, marketing materials and activities

    1. 3-3

      Develop partnerships with other education or mission organizations to create programs to respond to the unique needs in many different ministry fields. (In Progress)

      Key performance indicators: MOU with other organizations, recruitment plan, Seoul Recruitment Office

    1. 3-4

      Explore new marketing initiatives, including web-based recruitment tools, with a view toward attracting ethnically diverse students from our region and different parts of the world. (In Progress)

      Key performance indicators: recruitment plan, marketing materials, web-based tools, ethnic diversity, entering students survey

    1. 3-5

      Increase student retention by expanding scholarships and other forms of financial assistance and improving financial counseling. (In Progress)

      Key performance indicators: financial aid funds, student satisfaction survey, retention and graduation rates

  1. 3-6

    Increase student retention by reviewing and improving academic advisement process with a particular attention to support for students at risk. (In Progress)

    Key performance indicators: academic advisement review report, student satisfaction survey, retention and graduation rates

Objective 4 (Finance): We will improve our advancement activities and explore new initiatives with a view toward maintaining educational quality and financial sustainability.

Action Plans

    1. 4-1

      Increase annual giving by 10% by expanding our donor base and giving levels with a particular emphasis on communicating effectively with our constituents, particularly alumni. (In Progress)

      Key performance indicators: annual giving, number of donors

    1. 4-2

      Strengthen a comprehensive fundraising campaign to increase funding for endowed faculty chairs, student scholarships, and faculty research grants. (Not Yet)

      Key performance indicators: funds for chairs, scholarships, grants

  1. 4-3

    Explore a diversity of funding opportunities that support faculty and student research and institutional initiatives. (Done)

    Key performance indicators: external grants for faculty and students

Objective 5 (Resources): We will improve library resources required to support our new and existing degree programs and technological resources and solutions required to meet our increasingly complex educational and administrative needs.

Action Plans

    1. 5-1

      Improve digital learning resources to support new and existing degree programs with a special focus on addressing spiritual formation curriculum and research. (In Progress)

      Key performance indicators: e-books, databases, user experiences

    1. 5-2

      Initiate the development of library resources and services that would be required to support the educational needs of the Master of Arts students who will enroll in the English and Spanish tracks. (In Progress)

      Key performance indicators: e-books and databases in English and Spanish, user experiences

    1. 5-3

      Increase the availability and capacity of technology options to support smart classrooms, meeting spaces, and online learning. (Done)

      Key performance indicators: smart classrooms, course evaluations

  1. 5-4

    Improve IT systems and services to address the educational, research, and administrative needs of an increasingly global and diverse community. (In Progress)

    Key performance indicators: user experiences of IT system