The Faculty of Arts: Today, Tomorrow and Yesterday
Faculty of Arts Retreat 2007
Thursday, 7 June 2007
McGill Tomorrow
Strategies, Plans and Compacts:
Where we are and where we are going
Laura R. Winer, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Office of the Provost
General principles underlying strategic
planning activities
• planning
– objective, flexible, and adaptive
• assumptions
– realistic, sensitive to contexts
• goals
– attainable and sustainable over several years
• allocations
– coherent processes and transparent distributions
• results
– measurable
• appropriate and agreed upon indicators
• selected peer institutions
General principles (cont’d): McGill’s “i’s”
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identity
international
inquiry-based
interdisciplinary
innovation
infrastructure
integrity
General principles (cont’d)
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academic priorities are the drivers; resource
allocations should be aligned with prioritised
academic goals
– strategic statements: The White Paper; the
Principal’s Task Force on Student Life and
Learning, the Master Plan
– operational compacts (budgets and other resource
allocations)
General principles (cont’d)
• tools are needed to fund new initiatives and
priorities
– resource generation mechanisms
– internal reallocations also at the unit level
General principles (cont’d): Budget planning
decisions
• means of helping responsible, authoritative,
accountable individuals to take decisions
• not a mechanical substitute for good
judgment, political wisdom, and leadership
of those who must take decisions
• reasoned approach to decisions; i.e.,
“quantified common sense”
Plans and compacts
• development of a regular cycle of implementation,
evaluation, and adjustment across the University
– multiyear budgeting driven by academic priorities
– yearly operational budget compacts
– alignment of all resource allocations to strategic priorities
What is a compact?
• within the new multiyear framework, annual
operating funds must still be allocated
• compacts reflect academic priorities that can be
funded to meet a Faculty’s goals and objectives
• “academic renewal” in all of its aspects
• University-wide and Faculty-specific allocations
– expressions vary Faculty by Faculty
Significant actions and programs
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Academic renewal
Student life and learning
Graduate student funding
Master Plan
Comprehensive campaign
Sustainability
Staff development
Effective organisational practices
Goals, objectives, and strategies
developed in the “white paper”
• McGill will consistently rank among the top 10
publicly-funded, research-intensive, studentcentred universities worldwide
• in selected areas our performance will
unambiguously position the University among
the world leaders
• implement the plan over the next 5 years
1. academic renewal plan
• CRC’s for external recruitment, internal McGill-Dawson
programme, and endowed chairs
• transition help for families
• mentorship, start-ups, CFI
• academic salary policy and benefits
• NTT issues
Arts specifics
• continue program reviews with special
examination of:
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Programs with small enrolments (i.e., undergrad majors <100)
Enrolment and resource planning for BA&Sc programs
U0
integration of aspects of aboriginal studies, comparative
nationalism and diverse sexualities within existing programs
• program issues:
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enhance internship program
potential minor with Law for European Studies
Masters in Marriage and Family Therapy
vision for developments for offerings for First Nations and Inuit
communities
Arts specifics, cont’d
• workload issues
– assessment of field studies activities on teaching loads
– manage course offerings requested by other Faculties
• structural issues
– languages, literature and culture
Arts specifics, cont’d
• moving to target complement for the Faculty
– 266.8 TT; target TT complement is 279.3
• Academic renewal plans for MSE with Arts &
Science; explore other Faculties—Engineering?
Law?
• operating budgets
– increase operating budget
– diversify sources of revenue
2. enriched student life experience
• targeted growth in specific undergraduate programmes
• residential life experiences
• fee increases and increased student financial aid
• academic advising
• research-informed teaching and learning
• international experiences
• implementation of the recommendations of the Principal’s
task force on student life and learning
Arts undergraduate students
• 2006 fall UG enrolment:
– Arts: 6,523 (4,288 women, 2,235 men)
– Arts & Science: 212 (149 women, 63 men)
• goal: stable undergraduate enrolment
3. improved graduate studies environment
• increase numbers of graduate students in
research programmes
• improve the quality of their experiences
• increase completion rates and reduce time to
completion
Arts graduate students
• Arts will work to:
– Increase graduate FTEs to combined 450 MA and
PhD
4. foundational disciplines and interdisciplinary developments
• centres, institutes, and other structures, with shared
infrastructure platforms, equipment, networks, and
technology
– cognitive, biological, and behavioural neurosciences,
including pain
– public and social policy, including health and society
– environmental sciences and studies
– computation, statistical inference and modelling
– nano-sciences, nanotechnology, and advanced materials
– integrative systems biology
– languages, literatures, and cultures
• develop other directions where McGill can become a
leader
Arts partnerships to develop
• with research centres:
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McGill Institute for the Study of Canada
Institute for Health and Social Policy
Social Statistics
Book Project
Making Publics
Centre for Research on Religion
European Studies (Law)
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Quantitative Economics (UdeM)
Letters and traditions (Laval)
Diversity in Quebec (UQAM)
Human Development (Concordia)
develop other directions where McGill can become a
leader
5. highest quality service from all support
areas
• library
– information, service, and innovation
• information system and technology
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teaching, learning, and research efforts
highest quality of service
avoidance of costly duplication
major projects
• facilities developments
– renovations to modernise existing laboratory, classroom
and museum spaces
– integrate that thinking into Master Plan
6. professional development
• mechanisms leading to:
– enhanced productivity
– improved job satisfaction
– make McGill one of the top university employers in
Canada
7. internal performance indicators and
benchmarking against selected peer
institutions
• Faculties, departments, centres, institutes,
programs
– internal goal setting
– comparison of data for selected indicators
– “standard” institutions are G13, AAU ( 9 better
funded and 9 empirical peers), U21
Decision-making processes
• interplay between “centralisation” and “decentralisation”
– aspects of the way McGill must and has chosen to do its
business have changed dramatically
– the University expects more from Faculties
– Faculties have been given more resources and broader
mandates
• Deans have to make decisions
– tough, sometimes unpopular ones
– aggressive re-purposing of space and human
infrastructure
• Questions?
• Comments?
• Suggestions?
• Criticisms?
• Concerns?
• Complaints?