U of C seeks consultation on Academic and Research Plans

By Saima Asad, June 5 2017 —

The University of Calgary began the consultation process for its new Academic and Research Plans on June 1. The campus-wide survey is open until June 23 and has received roughly 900 responses so far. The plans will replace the 2012–2017 Academic and Research Plans that followed the 2011 Eyes High strategy.

Provost and vice-president academic Dru Marshall said the plans will help the U of C achieve the new Eyes High strategy’s goal of becoming a top-five research university in Canada.

“We have a team that will do a thematic analysis on the results,” Marshall said. “Through that, we’ll take that information and we will write the first draft of both documents.”

In addition to analyzing survey responses, the Academic and Research Plan process will review data collected from the Eyes High consultation process. A draft of the two plans will be completed and taken to the U of C’s Executive Leadership Team retreat at the end of August. Internal consultations will take place in September before the draft is reviewed externally in November.

“We’ll also do an external consultation with the community of Calgary and we will have some very select invited processes where we go and present the document to people and talk about what the goals and objectives will be,” Marshall said.

The U of C aims to have the plan approved by General Faculties Council and the Board of Governors in December to begin implementation in January 2018. It will run until 2023.

Marshall encourages students to take the survey.

“It’s an opportunity for students to talk about the direction that they’d like to see their university go,” she said.

The survey can be found on the U of C website.