Designed to produce highly effective administrators and leaders, the Higher Education Administration Program is based in enrollment management, the only program of its kind in the nation. Enrollment management is an institution-wide approach that uses theory, research and teamwork to recruit and retain students and support their academic success, psychological development and personal well-being.

The program leads to a master of science degree in education via one of two innovative, 33-credit tracks: Enrollment Management and Student Life and Development. Open to both full- and part-time students, the program offers mostly evening classes.

The 33-credit Enrollment Management (EM) concentration focuses on administrative service components that when strategically managed work together to recruit and retain students for the institution and provide seamless support from matriculation to graduation and beyond. Components examined in coursework and hands-on opportunities include recruitment and admissions, financial aid and scholarships, market and institutional research, student employment and career planning, records and registration, academic advising and support services, student accounts, housing and alumni affairs. Ours is an expansive, interdisciplinary curriculum taught by a faculty of scholars and administrators from the School of Education, School of Business Administration, and the Division of Enrollment Management, which for 17 years has been a national leader in the practice of enrollment management. Because it is a working laboratory for EM activities, the University of Miami offers unusual exposure to the departments and offices found at most colleges and universities as well as applications of theory to practice.

The 36-credit Student Life and Development concentration provides aspiring administrators the knowledge and skills to support a new college student’s transition and adjustment and ultimate involvement and achievement. This focus is especially important because (1) campus demographics, cultures and orientations have been shifting greatly; (2) a bachelor’s degree has become vital to social and economic achievement across the board; and (3) more students are coming to college bearing the effects of various life stressors and needing a motivating, helpful environment. Traditionally, student affairs professionals were educated in “college student personnel” programs – a valuable approach but more narrowly centered on campus life issues. In contrast, our program employs enrollment management basics, including strategic planning and research, to instill a holistic understanding of the many different components that can affect academic success, including the roles family and community play in promoting the well-being of students from diverse backgrounds. Through this focus on undergraduate diversity and psychosocial development, the program addresses the extracurricular activities and other tools associated with promoting personal development and well-being, including creative problem-solving, effective program evaluation, good teamwork and research-based decision-making. As in the EM track, students have many opportunities for hands-on experience