Following the approval of the Aspire strategic plan, specific initiatives focused on Foundational Commitments will be early goals, beginning with the development of an institutional data strategy that will support the collection and use of meaningful and reliable data in alignment with the strategic plan. This is an important early step that will enable us to analyze and benchmark our situation, track and report on our progress, and celebrate our strengths and successes. The development of the data strategy is also an important opportunity for us to reach greater consensus around the data that we need to collect and use, empowering units and departments to make data-driven decisions.

Once the strategic plan has been approved, the President and senior leadership’s performance objectives will align with the plan and expand to other roles as the various cascading strategies are finalized and implemented. Governance agendas will be set relative to the annual plans. This approach is intended to ensure accountability as well as ownership of key elements of the plan.

Beginning in summer 2023, the Provost and the Vice-President, Research and Innovation will co-lead the development of the Strategic Academic Plan and the Strategic Research Plan to prioritize and develop specific academic and research initiatives and metrics, in alignment with Aspire strategic plan priorities and commitments. Development of many of the cascading plans, including the equity, diversity, and inclusion strategic plan; the employee engagement strategy; the internationalization framework; the Indigenous strategic plan; and the sustainability framework are already underway. The extensive data gathered during the Aspire consultation process will provide a strong foundation for efficient planning during subsequent phases. Coordination and line of sight across plans will be important, and as an institution we are building capacity and support for those activities. Faculty and unit-level planning will follow, in line with the cyclical planning activities of various areas.

Investing in Our Future

Institutional financial sustainability is critical to our ability to fulfil our academic mission, to serve communities, and to create knowledge. Many factors impact the sustainability of our University. These include provincial funding models, changing regional demographics, fundraising, post-pandemic enrolment patterns, evolving competition in the post-secondary sector, cost pressures, and institutional financial management.

Thoughtful and strategic approaches to fiscal responsibility, fundraising, cost management, alternate revenue generation, and enrolment planning are critical to creating the stability that enables future planning, possibility, and innovation. The priorities of the strategic plan will provide direction and guidance for human, capital, and financial resource allocations and revenue generation planning to ensure that we reach our goals over the next five years.

Consultative planning of the University’s next strategic enrolment plan began in the first quarter of 2023, exploring considerations such as ideal institutional size, mix of domestic and international graduate and undergraduate students, diversification of international student countries of origin, and strategies for student engagement, recruitment, and retention. Many of these factors overlap significantly with the goals of this strategic plan. This planning must be nimble in order to respond to shifting provincial funding frameworks, changes in demand, and the international context.

Measuring Our Success

To inspire meaningful change, we must be trustworthy. Accountability to our stakeholders and to on- and off-campus communities is an essential part of that commitment. We will track and communicate our progress and provide annual public reporting on performance metrics across all identified strategic areas of focus. Because we are employing a cascading strategies approach, appropriate metrics will evolve in alignment with the establishment of each plan, strategy, or framework. Reporting will focus on process metrics in the initial stages, with more specific performance metrics arising from the cascading plans as they are approved.

Metrics from the cascading plans will be “rolled up” to be incorporated into institutional tracking and reporting as they are finalized. The implementation of the institutional data strategy is critical to the establishment of meaningful, aligned metrics for this plan. Timelines for cascading strategies will be announced as they evolve, with quarterly reporting on progress submitted to Senate and the Board of Governors.