“Systemness is the coordination of multiple components that, when working together, create a network of activity that is more powerful than any action of individual parts on their own.”
Systemness, or the idea that the whole can be more than the sum of its parts, is the fundamental concept that drives our work. Rather than seeing systems as collections of disparate actors, we believe that systems can be coordinated actors that leverage their power to convene and facilitate, along with their governing and policy making authority, to build collaborations to support students and campuses; rather than trying to mediate competitive actions.
The term is fairly new in education and is guided by the following principles:
- Creating a common vision that embraces innovation, creativity, and growth.
- Setting goals and metrics for the system and its constituent campuses
- Developing networked improvement communities with members from multiple campuses to collectively address key challenges, identify resource strategies to support needed changes, and learn from each other to make improvements.
- Leveraging the governance authority of the board implement and sustain meaningful changes.
Our systemness approach is embedded in being cognizant that higher education systems need to move beyond their traditional roles as allocators, coordinators, and regulators and exert leadership and coordination in promoting student success.
Public higher education systems exist in an eco-system comprised of people, processes and structures. This ecosystem is in a constant state of multi-layered, complex change, encompassing many characteristics and processes simultaneously. HEI systems need to find ways to promote the vibrancy of individual campuses by supporting their unique missions, coordinating the work of campuses to improve access, college completion and enhance productivity across the system; leveraging the collective strengths of institutions to benefit the communities served by the system.
More about the concept of systemness can be explored in the volume, Higher Education Systems 3.0: Harnessing Systemness, Delivering Performance, edited by Jason E. Lane and D. Bruce Johnstone and published by SUNY Press.