U of C provost to take first look at Quality Money projects

By Tina Shaygan, September 15 2017 —

Quality Money is changing to reflect the University of Calgary’s new Eyes High strategy, as well as the Students’ Union’s updated strategic plan.

The Quality Money program is a partnership between the U of C and the SU. It distributes roughly $2 million every year to “projects that will enhance the overall student experience.”

The SU will now provide provost Dru Marshall a binder of all the applications in order to receive her feedback before the SU’s Quality Money committee decides which projects to recommend for funding.

“What we’re doing is we’re providing binders to the provost beforehand so she can provide me that feedback earlier on and I can give that to the committee,” SU president Branden Cave said.

In the past, SU presidents discussed the final projects with the provost after the committee made its decisions. Cave said they shifted the timeline in order to gather feedback from U of C administrators earlier on.

“We want to make sure the feedback is given beforehand rather than at the end when the committee has made its decision and people are a little bit more hesitant to change things,” he said. “At the end of the day, what it is going to do is provide the committee with more information to make its decision.”

Cave said the changes are due to the U of C’s adoption of the new Eyes High 2017–2022 strategy, as well as the SU’s updated strategic plan. Quality Money projects are evaluated based on several funding pillars intended to reflect the vision of the two organizations. Cave said these pillars have been amended to better reflect the organization’s’ updated visions and missions.

The other changes include a more clear timeline for the Quality Money committee and changes to the Campus Improvement Fund (CIF).

Established in 2012, CIF reserves a portion of Quality Money’s funding specifically for projects initiated by SU Elected Officials. Cave said the SU is working to modify the pillars of CIF to align with Quality Money’s updated pillars. As well, the procedure for CIF will be made publicly available so the campus community can better understand its workings.

“If it is something that [members of campus community] think a faculty rep could be working on, they know how that process works,” Cave said.

Earlier this summer, Students’ Legislative Council voted to pass an updated Terms of Reference for Quality Money. The committee no longer requires SLC’s vote for approval of the projects. As a result, the committee’s reporting system to SLC was also modified. The committee is now required to provide regular updates to SLC on the specific projects being considered, along with a justification of how these projects align with the selection criteria.

Correction: A previous version of this story erroneously stated that the U of C Board of Governors approves the final list of Quality Money projects. Actually, the Board of Governors approves the release of Quality Money funds to the Students’ Union. The Gauntlet apologies to its readers for this error.