McGill Tomorrow Strategies, Plans and Compacts: Where we are and where we are going

1. The Faculty of Arts: Today, Tomorrow and Yesterday Faculty of Arts Retreat 2007 Thursday, 7 June 2007 McGill TomorrowStrategies, Plans and Compacts: Where we are and where we are going Laura R. Winer, Ph.D. Executive Director Office of the Provost

2. 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

3. General principles (cont’d): McGill’s “i’s” • identity • international • inquiry-based • interdisciplinary • innovation • infrastructure • integrity

4. General principles (cont’d) • 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)

5. General principles (cont’d) • tools are needed to fund new initiatives and priorities • resource generation mechanisms • internal reallocations also at the unit level

6. 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”

7. 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

8. 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

9. Significant actions and programs • Academic renewal • Student life and learning • Graduate student funding • Master Plan • Comprehensive campaign • Sustainability • Staff development • Effective organisational practices

10. Goals, objectives, and strategies developed in the “white paper” • McGill will consistently rank among the top 10 publicly-funded, research-intensive, student-centred universities worldwide • in selected areas our performance will unambiguously position the University among the world leaders • implement the plan over the next 5 years

11. 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

12. Arts specifics • continue program reviews with special examination of: • 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: • 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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

17. 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

18. Arts graduate students • Arts will work to: • Increase graduate FTEs to combined 450 MA and PhD

19. 4. foundational disciplines and inter-disciplinary 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

20. Arts partnerships to develop • with research centres: • 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) • Quantitative Economics (UdeM) • Letters and traditions (Laval) • Diversity in Quebec (UQAM) • Human Development (Concordia) • develop other directions where McGill can become a leader

21. 5. highest quality service from all support areas • library • information, service, and innovation • information system and technology • 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

22. 6. professional development • mechanisms leading to: • enhanced productivity • improved job satisfaction • make McGill one of the top university employers in Canada

23. 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

24. Decision-making processes • interplay between “centralisation” and “de-centralisation” • 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

25. Questions? • Comments? • Suggestions? • Criticisms? • Concerns? • Complaints?