This study aims to identify critical success factors and sequential relations among them which contribute to building innovation in junior colleges and to provide meaningful information and insights to presidents, chairmen of the board of trustees in private colleges, and professors and administrators who are responsible for college innovation. To achieve these aims, this study (i) developed conceptual framework and checklist for analyzing junior college’s innovation cases and identifying critical success factors and their relations, (ii) analyzed 10 innovative junior colleges by applying the conceptual framework and checklist and identified critical success factors and their relations, and (iii) based on the analyses, developed an analytical framework for planning and implementing junior college’s innovation and checklist for diagnosing a college’s policy environment and innovative capacities and selecting tasks and strategies for college innovation.
Critical success factors identified through the analyses of 10 innovative junior colleges’ cases are as follows:
(1) policy environment factor: (i) external factors - proximity to industrial areas & enterprises and cities, will and capacity of enterprises to participate in industry-college cooperation, decrease in student age cohort, changes in students’ preference in college education and in industries’ demand for skills, and governments’ policies for supporting junior colleges; (ii) internal factors - extent of concentration of similar major fields/departments, and variety of majors.
(2) strategy factor: (i) planning & implementation - clear goal setting and implementation of action plans distinguished from 4-year universities, performance evaluation & management, promotion of partnership with industry, enhancement of employment, fostering major areas which have comparative advantages, identifying student’s demand for college education and publicity work, and active utilization of governments’ financial support programs; (ii) leadership - college president’s leadership(clear understanding of the characteristics of junior college education, sense of urgency, new vision, empowerment, performance evaluation & management), board of trustee chairman’s leadership(initiative action towards innovative college management, active investment in college education), and collective leadership through identifying and empowering champions in college departments; (iii) capacity of professors curriculum development) and administrators and active participation in college innovation process; (iv) governance - less interference from the board of trustee into college management, rational decision-making process and consensus building, and fair recruit and placement procedures.
(3) input factor: (i) human resources - recruitment of professor with industry experience and high quality students; (ii) finance - securing funds and efficient budget spending
(4) process factor: (i) curriculum - project classes for enhancing problem-solving ability and creativity, tailor-made training programs to fully meet industries’ skill demands, employment- oriented informal programs, career guidance for individual students, and emphasis on future workers’ integrity and humanity, (ii) operational and cultural factors - professor’s performance appraisal in terms of providing high quality vocational education, evaluation of student’s performance in terms of employability, project management based on performance evaluation, building organizational cultures which value learning and innovation, professor’s affection to students, and innovation of administration system and improvement of workers’ welfare.
(5) output factor: (i) visibility of innovation effect - high employment rate; (ii) innovation sustainability - consistency in leadership, government policies for promoting and maintaining industry-college cooperation, and systemic approach to college management and institutionalization.
Analysis results indicates that, among critical success factors mentioned above, college president’s and board of trustees’ chairman’s leadership, curriculum, and professor’s performance appraisal play particularly crucial roles in initiating, planning, and implementing college innovation.