Planning and Priorities Committee Reports

UNIVERSITY COUNCIL
PLANNING COMMITTEE

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University of Saskatchewan Strategic Directions

At its May 23, 2002 meeting, University Council approved the following motion:

    That Council authorize the University of Saskatchewan Strategic Directions Statement.

The motion was presented by the Planning Committee on behalf of the Academic Programs Committee, Budget Committee, Research Committee, and Capital Planning Committee.

SUMMARY OF PROPOSAL:
In the next century, the University of Saskatchewan will be known for:

• International standards:  adherence to international standards in all its activities.
• Academic preeminence:  preeminence in specific areas of creative academic programming and scholarship.
• Sense of place:  connections to Saskatchewan, Western Canada, the North and the Great Plains environments of the world.

For the planning period of 2002-2007, four strategic priorities will guide our decisions:

1. Attract and retain outstanding faculty
2. Increase campus-wide commitment to research, scholarly and artistic work.
3. Establish the University of Saskatchewan as a major presence in graduate education.
4. Recruit a diverse and academically promising body of students and prepare them for success in the knowledge age.

The university will establish a supportive environment for these directions, including cultivating an environment of collegiality and trust; celebrating the university locally, nationally and internationally; enriching the resources and physical environment of the campus; and enhancing our revenue opportunities.

RATIONALE:
In 1998, Council approved A Framework for Planning at the University of Saskatchewan  which committed the university to four goals:  improving the quality of instructional programs; increasing research intensity; fostering the teacher-scholar model; and responding to the needs of Aboriginal peoples.  The Strategic Directions Statement builds on this foundation by defining how the University of Saskatchewan should develop and by laying out several specific strategies for implementing these goals.

Through the motion, Council is now being asked to authorize the Strategic Directions Statement, which shows Council’s endorsement of and support for these Directions at the University of Saskatchewan.   Earlier drafts of this Statement have been reviewed and commented on by faculty and others at a number of discussion forums.  Members of Council and its committees attended a Workshop on the statement to provide specific suggestions on its content and wording.  As well, Council committees have discussed both the draft and final versions of the Statement.  Comments from several Council committees regarding the final version of the Strategic Directions Statement are listed below.

The authority of Council in areas of academic planning and priorities remains the same.  Under the University of Saskatchewan Act (1995), University Council is responsible for  “overseeing and directing the university’s academic affairs.”   Specifically, the list of areas over which Council has authority includes the following:

• authorize the Board on academic grounds to establish or disestablish a college, school, department, chair or institute;
• authorize the Board on academic grounds to provide for or to dissolve affiliation or federation with another educational institution;
• prescribe curricula, programs of instruction and courses of study;
• prescribing academic and other qualifications for admission;
• prescribe the number of students to be admitted to a college or program;
• review the physical and budgetary plans for the university and make recommendations respecting those matters to the President or the Board;
• make recommendations to the President, the Board or Senate respecting any matter that Council considers to be in the interests of the University;
• do anything that it considers necessary, incidental or conducive to the exercise of its powers to promote the best interests of the University or to carry out the purposes of the Act.

Over the next several months or years, the university and its colleges will develop academic plans based on the Strategic Directions Statement and on other supporting documents, including the Critical Design elements, the Enrolment Plan, the Conceptual Framework for Aboriginal Education, and the University Complement plan. Mechanisms for resource allocations based on these plans will also be developed.  As these documents are developed, Council committees will examine them and make appropriate recommendations to Council for its decision.

COMMITTEE COMMENTS AND RECOMMENDATION:

Academic Programs Committee:
The Academic Programs Committee agreed that President MacKinnon had been very responsive to the suggestions raised at the Council Workshop and commended the revisions in the Strategic Directions statement.  The foundation documents, particularly the Enrolment Plan, will be critical to implementation of the directions and APC looks forward to its review and discussion of the Enrolment Plan.

Budget Committee:
The Budget Committee thanks the President for being responsive to the comments raised at the Council Workshop.  The Budget Committee endorses the April 23, 2002  revised version of the Strategic Directions Statement, on the understanding that the supporting foundational documents being developed now and in the future will be
examined by Council.

Capital Planning Committee:
The Capital Planning Committee is satisfied with the revised Strategic Directions document and the Response to Feedback.  Although a variety of suggestions regarding wording have been made, the Committee is generally in agreement with the strategic directions described by the document.  Most members of the CPC voiced concern regarding the resources required to implement the vision articulated in the document.

Research Committee:
The Research Committee is pleased to offer its unqualified support for the Strategic Directions Statement. In particular, the adoption of “an increased campus-wide commitment to research and scholarly and artistic work” and “establishment of the University as a major presence in graduate education” as key strategic directions is in keeping with the Committee’s (and Council’s) vision of a “more research intensive university”. The Research Committee wishes to commend the President for displaying visionary leadership in drafting the Strategic Directions Statement, while remaining sensitive to the unique perspectives of, and open to input from, all stakeholders in the future of the University of Saskatchewan. Council members are directed to additional Research Committee perspectives on the Strategic Directions Statement.

Planning Committee:
The Planning Committee expressed its agreement with the changes that had been made in the Strategic Directions statement and reiterated that Council needs to be assured that the various supporting documents mentioned in the Strategic Directions Statement will be examined and submitted to Council for its comments and judgment.

ATTACHMENTS:
Strategic Directions Statement