Office of the University Secretary
212 College Building 107 Admin Place
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Phone: (306) 966-4632 Fax (306) 9664530
MEMORANDUM
TO:
John Rigby, Chair, Planning Committee of Council
FROM:
Trever Crowe, Chair, Academic Programs Committee of Council
DATE:
May 28, 2007
RE:
Program proposal for BA in Prairie Studies
At its May 11, 2007 meeting, the Academic Programs Committee discussed the proposal for a
BA in Prairie Studies and the Subcommittee Report on this program.
Committee members agreed that the discussions held by the Subcommittee with representatives
from the College of Arts & Science had been very productive, and had dealt with all outstanding
questions regarding this program.
The College of Arts & Science feels it is extremely important that University Council deal with
this program by the end of June, so that this unique partnership opportunity with the University of
Regina and First Nations University can be offered to students this fall. The program
demonstrates a pragmatic approach to shared programming within the partner institutions. It
offers an innovative and creative opportunity to students, and demonstrates a strong fit with the
strategic directions of the University.
The Committee approved the following motion:
That the proposal of the College of Arts & Science for a BA in Prairie Studies be
recommended for approval.
_______________________________
JOINT SUBCOMMITTEE REPORT
PRAIRIE STUDIES PROPOSAL
May 11, 2007
Members: Academic Programs Committee: Alec Aitken (Chair), Kelly McInnis, Francois
Messier; Budget Committee: Dave Dodds, Britton MacDonald; Resource: Jim Spinney, Sandra
Calver (Secretary)
The joint subcommittee met on March 15, 2007, to consider the proposal for a B.A. (four-year &
honours) in Prairie Studies, and subsequently on May 2nd, to review the proposal with the
program proponents. The meeting on May 2nd was chaired by Francois Messier, Acting Chair,
and attended by Lawrence Martz, Associate Dean (Social Sciences), Tom Steele, Associate Dean
(Undergraduate Affairs), Laura Zink, Research & Admin. Officer, Diane Favreau, Coordinator of
Academic Programs & Special Projects, and Bob Cram, Director of the Center for Continuing
and Distance Education (CCDE). The Chair referred to the earlier report provided to the College
and welcomed discussion on any of the points raised in the report with the goal of advancing the
proposal. A summary of the discussion with proponents follows.
Proponents clarified the proposal was not a jointly offered degree, but a program developed in
partnership with the degree to be granted autonomously by each institution. The College of Arts
and Science promotion and graduation standards and policies will apply to the B.A. in Prairie
Studies offered by the University of Saskatchewan, and the transcript will indicate the degree was
awarded by the U of S.
As a major university, the ability to deliver online education has an impact in terms of our
competitive position compared to other Canadian universities. The proposal encompasses the
University’s aspirations towards distance delivery of courses, the initiative to develop a
partnership program with our sister universities, our unique sense of place, and academic
credibility of the program in its own right. The proposal also addresses the need of place-bound
individuals and provides a degree of flexibility to students in undertaking their studies outside a
traditional format. Moving to a completely online or distance format for all course offerings is
not envisaged, as the courses which comprise the program, with the exception of PRST 200 &
400 , are under the academic jurisdiction of departments and dependent upon unit plans. On a
principle basis, however, the program responds to the initiative to apply a strategic direction to
TEL courses, and the program is positioned to build a partnership with individual departments
offering courses within the program to achieve a broader strategic direction through TEL
delivery.
Proponents noted that as the proposal lists only 200-level courses and upwards, the
subcommittee’s initial comment that less than a third of proposed courses are available through a
distributed learning mode is not accurate, as the large number of 100-level offerings which
comprise electives are not cited within the proposal. The University’s articulation agreement
with the University of Regina makes it possible to almost entirely complete the degree by
distance delivery, providing courses from the U of S, U of R, and FNUC are blended. However,
the majority of students are anticipated to complete the degree either using face-to-face traditional
delivery or a combination of on-campus with off-campus studies. The residency requirements
which apply are those as articulated by each institution and dependent upon the number of credit
units completed as offered by the home institution, regardless of geographical location.
The Prairie Studies program is recognized as TEL priority, in alignment with Campus
Saskatchewan and the U of S. Ongoing course maintenance will be addressed through the
University’s e-learning strategy. There is no significant overlap in the distance delivery offerings
between institutions, due in large part to the strategic communication afforded through TEL,
which critically reviews whether a comparable distance course has been developed by another
institution prior to funding. Proponents agreed with the subcommittee’s suggestion to include the
topic of prairie industries related to agriculture, mining, and forestry as an area of future program
development.
The prerequisites for the program have been mapped to the courses, but have not been mapped
specifically for distance delivery. This would form a next step in program analysis, and would be
part of helping to establish a strategic framework for distance delivery. The subcommittee
suggested proponents identify a set of courses which would demonstrate that the first two years of
the program could be taken entirely by distance delivery, and utilize this as a marketing and
recruitment tool. This would also identify any courses which are potentially “on-campus”
bottlenecks, and could be targeted strategically for distance development, or delivered potentially
in Regional Colleges close to campus.
Regarding the subcommittee’s request for an indication of incremental enrollment and program
demand, the experience in the Northern Studies program is a positive indicator of program
interest in this area, with incremental activity generated at Northlands College and external
funding leveraged, provincially and federally. The University of Regina has committed to the
program, and we risk losing potential students if the program is not mounted. Any potential loss
in course revenue through students who elect to take up course offerings at either U of R or
FNUC is considered negligible; rather the gain to the University will be the enrollment through
distance delivery of those students who for family or financial reasons cannot maintain residency
physically at the U of S.
As with any BA graduate, graduates from the Prairie Studies program are attractive to a variety of
sectors as educated, adaptable graduates with a range of transferable skills in communication and
critical thinking. The added dimension of a strong regional focus will make these graduates
particularly attractive within Western Canada.
The budget provides for a sessional instructor to provide teaching relief for the Coordinator, with
administrative support provided through the Coordinator of Interdisciplinary Programs, and a
budget for administrative activity related to promotion and travel costs. There will be a revenue
transfer which occurs in transferring tuition revenue to the CCDE for the distance delivery
courses, which will offset the costs incurred in maintaining the distance delivery portion of the
program. However, as the majority of courses are already developed, the costs incurred by
CCDE were viewed as negligible. Advantages to partnership approaches to distance learning
are the lowering of the development costs for each participating institution and increased
marketing opportunities. Course maintenance is available through the CCDE for the distance
delivery courses, and through departments, for ongoing renewal of regular courses. The Regional
Colleges have also expressed interest in providing summer workshops which would enhance the
program, once approved.
As for any interdisciplinary program, the course offerings are approved by the academic units,
and require consultation with the various cognate departments. The program has been created
with a flexible structure to accommodate the absence of any particular course in a given year.
Off-campus course offerings are part of the Associate Dean Undergraduate portfolio and
managed by the College’s coordinator of off-campus programs, in partnership with the CCDE.
Ongoing interaction with departments will occur as for any interdisciplinary program to ensure
courses are offered regularly.
The question of the cooperative education program component at the University of Regina was
clarified. As the proposal is a joint proposal, the reference that students would not be excluded
from co-op studies is referenced primarily for the benefit of the U of R. Typically, work
experience programs are not offered to visiting students, however, U of S students will be eligible
to register in The Faculty of Arts Cooperative Education Program for one term at the University
of Regina and would be treated in the same manner as U of R students, that is they would not
obtain academic credit for their work placement but would be eligible to participate and spend
time in a cooperative work placement.
The subcommittee agreed the program demonstrated a pragmatic means to explore shared
programming by being framed within the existing structures and mechanisms of the partner
institutions. In summary, the subcommittee viewed the risk undertaken to be well assessed, and
viewed the program as both innovative and creative, demonstrating a strong fit with the strategic
directions of the University.