UH Hilo Enrollment Management Implementation Team

This page contains draft, incomplete and/or unofficial work products last updated in 2011. See the current Enrollment Management web page for updated information.

The Enrollment Management Implementation Team (EMIT) is comprised of University administrators, educators and shared governance representatives. Its purpose is to develop, implement and evaluate effective educational practices and policies that help UH Hilo meet its student recruitment, retention and graduation goals in a manner that is data-driven and sustainable given available facility, fiscal, and human resources.

Background & Justification for EMIT

Students on UH Hilo Lawn Over the past decade, the University of Hawaii at Hilo has consistently increased its enrollment by 42% from 2,790 in Fall 1999 to 3,974 in Fall 2009. UH Hilo intends to become a comprehensive University with a target enrollment of 5,000. The University has struggled to maintain a level of infrastructure – including human resources support, facility expansion, and budget augmentation – to keep pace with this rate of growth.

There has been a lack of consensus and shared understanding among major campus constituencies about the value of this growth in student enrollment as well the manner in which that growth should take place, as evidenced by qualitative data from the Strategic Pre-Planning Survey and Listening Sessions currently taking place. In fact, in its report from a March 2008 Special Visit Review, the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) team recommended among other things that “the campus create an Enrollment Committee composed of appropriate faculty, staff, students, and administration to develop a growth plan for the campus. The campus team should work with the system to clarify the value of recruiting students from outside the state of Hawaiʻi.”

As such EMIT was established in the Fall of 2008 to provide a regular administrative communication forum that transcends traditional organizational silos and boundaries for those University units and individuals who fulfill an active, integral role in helping UH Hilo achieve its enrollment management goals. Specific activities include:

  1. Identify a cogent, coordinated macro-plan for how UH Hilo will purposefully manage its student enrollment in the coming years;
  2. Consider, adapt, and incorporate model practices with demonstrated success from other institutions of similar demographics, mission and strategic goals;
  3. Exchange relevant information and data in a timely manner, including fiscal impact of enrollment decisions/trends;
  4. Coordinate recruitment and outreach efforts with K-12 schools, community colleges and other four-year institutions to maximize efficiency/effectiveness and minimize duplication of efforts;
  5. Ensure that all initiatives implemented are consistent with the institution-wide enrollment management plan, with the University’s mission, with University branding goals, and with UH System strategic outcomes and performance measures;
  6. Determine and launch strategies that increase retention and persistence and reduce time to degree as critical means to meet campus enrollment targets and UH System performance measures; and
  7. Link student enrollment and student success targets with the achievement of a sustainable future for the University in terms of human, fiscal and facility resources.

Ultimately, our work is guided by a desire to improve the quality of life for Hawaiʻi's families. We do this by providing access for our State's citizens to a higher education opportunity distinguished by its dual commitment to both diversity and excellence, its unique location on Hawaiʻi Island and in the Pacific, and its responsibility as an indigenous-serving university.

More recently, EMIT's role has only grown in importance. As the University of Hawaii System moves towards an enrollment-driven and performance-based funding formula to guide its biennial and supplemental budget allocations, UH Hilo’s ability to make a compelling case for additional resources is dependent on our ability to effectively recruit students (both new and transfer), retain them from year to year, and graduate them in a timely manner - with particular emphasis on Native Hawaiian and Filipino students. As such, it is imperative that we engage in effective cross-campus collaboration, coordination and communication to ensure that University resources are invested most strategically to advance UH Hilo’s enrollment management goals.

EMIT Document Library

Record of Significant EMIT Communications, Decisions & Recommendations

Dates following each item refer to when the communication, decision or recommendation was made by EMIT.

If you have questions or suggestions about any of the above communications, decisions or recommendations, please refer to the Membership Roster and consult with your unit representative.

Resources About Strategic Enrollment Management

Institutional Data

See also:


This was updated 2/21/2011 at 1:45 PM HST by L. Hong