The Role of Strategic Planning in promoting the Competitive Advantage of the University of Hail

Abstract

The current study aimed to clarify how to promote the role of strategic planning in enhancing the competitiveness of the University of Hail (UoH), by identifying the conceptual framework of strategic planning in universities, identifying the intellectual foundations of competitiveness and its dimensions in universities, and determining the degree of availability of competitiveness indicators at the University of Hail, and then determining the mechanisms and requirements for activating the role of strategic planning in enhancing the competitiveness of University of Hail. It relied on the descriptive analytical approach, and the study community included all faculty members at Hail University, numbering (2157) members. The study sample consisted of (415) faculty members working in some colleges of the University of Hail. It concluded that the competitiveness indicators of the University of Hail are available in the fields of education and learning, partnerships and community responsibility to a medium degree, while in the field of scientific research to a large degree. It indicated the university's keenness to provide qualitative academic programs that meet the requirements of the local and global labor market, develop the capabilities of faculty members, provide a supportive environment for teaching and learning, and enhance the ethics of scientific research and international publishing. However, the results showed the university's lack of student exchange programs, the lack of research partnerships that the university concludes with the industry and production sector to support applied scientific research, and the absence of an integrated system for marketing and internationalizing the results of scientific research and research products. The study recommended the importance of linking the university's strategic directions with measures to enhance the university's competitive and institutional capabilities, thus contributing to achieving the expected strategic outcomes. It also recommended instilling and strengthening the culture of results-based strategic planning, disseminating it within the academic community, and employing its outcomes to support the university's competitive capabilities.