Marc Otto, chair of the NHL Stenden Executive Board, on portfolio management in Education: “You can’t just scrap everything and start over.”

It has already been seven years since the NHL and Stenden universities of applied sciences in the northern Netherlands merged to form NHL Stenden. With campuses in Assen, Emmen, Groningen, Leeuwarden, Meppel, West-Terschelling, and Amsterdam, this created a massive university of applied sciences in 2018, with nearly 25,000 students and about 2,300 staff members. In addition to all the positive effects, there were also issues that didn’t turn out as well, such as overlap in some programs. “As soon as the dust from the merger had settled, we took a look at our Portfolio,” says Marc Otto, a member of the Executive Board since 2020. “At that point, we simply had too many degree programs. Not only because of the duplications, but also because some programs were too small to sustain.”

In the years following the merger, the NHL Stenden board made a number of moves, Otto explains, in collaboration with Turner’s consultants. “We took a thorough look at all the figures, but I have to admit that that initial exercise yielded few concrete interventions. Sometimes, when we discussed a program with too few students, we realized it had just started. Another program was iconic: we couldn’t phase that one out either. And so it went. And make no mistake: discontinuing a program also costs money. This process was especially important for establishing a new dynamic within NHL Stenden’s leadership team. How do you have the conversation about the Portfolio together? That’s when you also confront the resistance.”

The Second Battle

For the second push that NHL Stenden wanted to make, Turner also took a look at the untapped areas. What were we still missing? We conducted an extensive study of other colleges, both in our area and abroad. Are there trends we haven’t seen yet in the Netherlands that will shape the future? We’ve set aside some budget for that—it always makes the discussion easier. It’s always interesting to start something new.”

At the same time, Otto and his colleagues were, of course, aware that a major problem was looming: the decline in student enrollment, which puts affordability under pressure. “It’s difficult to discontinue a program for financial reasons. Merging programs is a more attractive option, provided you have a solid rationale. You have to be able to explain your reasons to the stakeholders and empathize with them. We generally apply a minimum threshold of 25 students per year; if you fall below that, it really becomes a problem.” According to Otto, merging programs should be possible for those that share 60 to 70 percent of their curriculum. “That’s really a godsend if you want to streamline the Portfolio.”

When deciding which programs to combine, the question of how the educational institution positions itself does come into play. “Do you choose a broad-based college, or do you choose a college with a sharply defined profile? The interesting thing is that while broad-based programs in the Netherlands are indeed large, they’re all shrinking. You might be tempted to choose, for example, a broad economics program that offers specializations. But what do you see? Students are actually choosing programs with a sharply defined focus.” So you can’t simply eliminate or merge specialized programs.

“True collaboration isn’t easy”

NHL Stenden is now taking the next step in portfolio management. It’s a process of trial and error, Otto explains. “Streamlining will definitely take some time, because it requires a lot of effort. But it has to be done. We’re continuing to build on traditional educational approaches, because developing something truly new is difficult at this stage. You don’t just get permission to try something new, even though everyone sees that something needs to change in Education. If there aren’t 400 job openings for a particular profession, it’s virtually out of the question.”

Otto also sees collaboration with other universities of applied sciences in the relevant regions as an option within portfolio management. “We consult with all partners as much as possible. In the Northern Netherlands, enrollment is declining even more sharply than in other regions, so coordination with Hanze University of Applied Sciences makes sense. That allows you to keep more programs running.” Still, true collaboration isn’t easy, he continues. “You really have to be able to trust each other in this process. The program leaders involved naturally have their own preferences as well. Moreover, it must have a positive impact on the region.”

What are the main motivations?

What, exactly, are Otto’s main motivations for getting involved in portfolio management? “For me, the most important question is how, as an institution, you keep an entire portfolio of degree programs running in the Northern Netherlands. I’m fairly pragmatic about that. You could say you should redesign the entire range from scratch as a greenfield project, but that’s not how it works. There are four universities of applied sciences in the Northern Netherlands, so you can’t just say: let’s scrap everything and start over. We have those programs; people have jobs and want to keep working here. These are programs that have sometimes been running for more than thirty years. There’s just a lot of emotion tied up in them. You can’t just stop them like that. So we’ll have to try to set up new initiatives within those existing programs for jobs that don’t yet exist. Mapping out all the data and objectively assessing the issues at hand will certainly help with that. So we can make clear-cut decisions together—and then actually implement them.’

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Portfolio ManagementEducation institutions face major challenges: declining enrollment, budget cuts, and a changing job market. Professional portfolio management helps vocational schools, colleges, and universities ensure their educational portfolio remains relevant and organize a future-proof education system.

Optimize Your Educational Portfolio

Turner offers a variety of options to provide targeted support to institutions in professional portfolio management, tailored to their specific needs and challenges.

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• Strategic Portfolio Dialogue: Guiding decision-makers in setting priorities for the ongoing development of the education portfolio, all in one day.
• Prioritization of Strategic Options: Analysis of Portfolio opportunities and challenges—such as market contraction and partnerships—based on quantitative and qualitative insights. Includes clear options for interventions.