The American Higher Education system has undergone a major cultural and organizational shift. The change in the college student demographic and the shift from industrial to technological advancement has resulted in American colleges and universities changing their organizational and administrative structure to meet the needs of their students. In their desire to meet student needs, capacity-building, a concept applied mainly in the international development aid assistance community, has become popularized and applied to America’s colleges and universities.
Capacity-building is a relatively new term that emerged in the 1990s and was loosely defined as an organization's ability to “do things.” The National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) designed a more formalized approach to capacity-building in 2005 for post-secondary education. This framework, titled the Building Organizational Capacity (BOC) framework, defined capacity-building as the capacity of an individual higher education institution to anticipate, plan for, and respond to institutional challenges. Doug Toma later refined the BOC framework, whose approach to capacity-building consisted of all eight BOC frameworks but viewed purpose as central to capacity-building implementation.
Capacity-building has become a buzzword in higher education to assist institutions in building the critical infrastructure needed to support their changing student demographic's personal, academic, and professional development. Yet, there is a dearth of research on how capacity-building is implemented in American higher education institutions; one subset of institutions is minority-serving institutions (MSIs). Minority-serving institutions include historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs), and tribal colleges and universities (TCUs). This Research Topic seeks to create space for minority-serving institutions to share their experience engaging in capacity-building work, as their perspective is imperative in shaping a framework that aligns with their unique history and organizational culture.
Manuscripts solicited for this Research Topic may encompass diverse approaches and subject matter on capacity-building. Submissions may include theoretical explorations of capacity-building, best practices, needs assessments, critical analysis, process evaluations, outcomes evaluations, defining capacity-building, and implementation.
The manuscripts for this Research Topic will add to the need for more research on capacity-building in higher education. Most importantly, a more nuanced perspective of capacity-building will be introduced to the academy that is inclusive of America’s diverse post-secondary environment.
Keywords:
minority students, capacity-building, minority-serving institutions, diversity, higher education, post-secondary, underrepresented students
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
The American Higher Education system has undergone a major cultural and organizational shift. The change in the college student demographic and the shift from industrial to technological advancement has resulted in American colleges and universities changing their organizational and administrative structure to meet the needs of their students. In their desire to meet student needs, capacity-building, a concept applied mainly in the international development aid assistance community, has become popularized and applied to America’s colleges and universities.
Capacity-building is a relatively new term that emerged in the 1990s and was loosely defined as an organization's ability to “do things.” The National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) designed a more formalized approach to capacity-building in 2005 for post-secondary education. This framework, titled the Building Organizational Capacity (BOC) framework, defined capacity-building as the capacity of an individual higher education institution to anticipate, plan for, and respond to institutional challenges. Doug Toma later refined the BOC framework, whose approach to capacity-building consisted of all eight BOC frameworks but viewed purpose as central to capacity-building implementation.
Capacity-building has become a buzzword in higher education to assist institutions in building the critical infrastructure needed to support their changing student demographic's personal, academic, and professional development. Yet, there is a dearth of research on how capacity-building is implemented in American higher education institutions; one subset of institutions is minority-serving institutions (MSIs). Minority-serving institutions include historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions (HSIs), and tribal colleges and universities (TCUs). This Research Topic seeks to create space for minority-serving institutions to share their experience engaging in capacity-building work, as their perspective is imperative in shaping a framework that aligns with their unique history and organizational culture.
Manuscripts solicited for this Research Topic may encompass diverse approaches and subject matter on capacity-building. Submissions may include theoretical explorations of capacity-building, best practices, needs assessments, critical analysis, process evaluations, outcomes evaluations, defining capacity-building, and implementation.
The manuscripts for this Research Topic will add to the need for more research on capacity-building in higher education. Most importantly, a more nuanced perspective of capacity-building will be introduced to the academy that is inclusive of America’s diverse post-secondary environment.
Keywords:
minority students, capacity-building, minority-serving institutions, diversity, higher education, post-secondary, underrepresented students
Important Note:
All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.