What is strategic planning? What are vision and mission? Why is gap analysis essential? What are the goals and objectives? How do we carry out operational planning and monitor progress? These are some of the questions this session seeks to answer. Planning requires decision-making, and decision-making involves change. Strategic planning is long-term planning that answers two fundamental questions: What should we do? (goals), and how should we do it? (strategies). Strategic planning begins with defining the vision and mission. The next step is to examine the organization's or educational institution's external and internal conditions to understand the current situation. This analysis is done through gap analysis (SWOT analysis) between the current and desired states. The information collected leads to the development of an operational plan. The operational plan outlines the steps and activities needed to achieve strategic goals. In the monitoring phase, the role of each activity in the operational plan in reaching a specific goal is determined. Corrective or alternative activities are implemented whenever the current performance does not align with the target performance.
Keywords: Strategic planning, SWOT analysis, vision, mission, objectives, goals, operational plan, monitoring progress, University of Tehran, UNESCO Chair, Hossein Memarian.
