SENATE PRIORITIES AND PLANNING COMMITTEE. Minutes of the 10:00 a.m. meeting held Tuesday, September 3, 2013, UC424

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1 SENATE PRIORITIES AND PLANNING COMMITTEE Minutes of the 10:00 a.m. meeting held Tuesday, September 3, 2013, UC424 Members Present: Coral Murrant (Chair), Alastair Summerlee (President), Maureen Mancuso, Catherine Carstairs, Richard Heck, Patricia Turner, Byron Sheldrick, John Kissick, Ian Newby-Clark, Vinay Kanetkar (for Alison Duncan), Nathan Lachowsky, Thomas Beckett, Alan Filewod (for Scott McEwen), Vicki Hodgkinson (University Secretary), Kate Revington (Associate University Secretary) Regrets: Scott McEwen, Kelly Meckling, Alison Duncan 1. Welcome and Approval of the Agenda a) Approval of the Agenda The Chair welcomed members to the season of SPPC. She noted that the President would be delayed slightly in his arrival due to orientation week activities. RESOLVED, That the September 3, 2013 meeting agenda be approved, as presented. 2. Approval of the Minutes a) Minutes of May 8, 2013 On motion duly moved and seconded, it was RESOLVED, That the minutes of the May 28, 2013 meeting be approved, as presented. b) Business Arising Note was made of the business arising described in the meeting package (p. 7) concerning follow-up on proposed changes to the 2014 Senate evaluation survey and the article by Dr. Mancuso commenting on the value of university education. Page 1 of 4

2 Senate Priorities and Planning Committee Minutes of September 3, Committee Orientation a) Introduction of Committee Members Members introduced themselves to one another. b) Review of History, Mandate & Operations of SPPC The Chair reviewed the history of the SPPC which is entering its 6 th year of activity. The Committee s mandate and key tasks in support of Senate, including how it dove-tails with the work of the other Senate Standing Committees and supported Senate in establishing its annual priorities was described. 4. Development of Priorities for Senate Priorities a) Context Setting Presentations from the President and Provost The President and Provost provided a presentation (attached) reviewing the overall context for the coming year of University activities, including multi-year considerations affecting the planning and developments in government policy and funding initiatives. Discussion followed. Members sought clarification on how various academic-related initiatives would impact Senate s work for the coming year. The Provost indicated that it was not anticipated that Senate will receive significant numbers of recommendations related to the University s Integrated Plan and/or Program Prioritization Process (PPP) recommendations before the late fall. She observed that the strategic academic changes anticipated in the context of Integrated Planning may be anticipated to roll forward to Senate in stages over the next 2 to 3 years. Many proposed initiatives are anticipated to require attention by the Board of Undergraduate Studies and/ or the Board of Graduate Studies. Dr. Summerlee commented that in some cases proposals are already being developed in detail at the department and/or college level while, in other cases, they are still at the Iwonder-if-we-could stage of consideration. It was noted that further information will be available about some of the initiatives at the next meeting of SPPC and that it would be helpful to have the Committee s advice on how best to initiate deliberations at Senate with the goal of facilitating the exploration of proposals and emerging ideas that support change and complement processes underway at the college level. The President advised that the PPP Task Force report is proving to be extremely helpful and very extensive in its commentary and advice. In complementing the work of the Task Force, he offered his appreciation to those in attendance who had been among its membership. Members also asked about when the report arising from the review of the University s science programs would result in discussion at Senate. Dr. Mancuso Page 2 of 4

3 Senate Priorities and Planning Committee Minutes of September 3, 2013 indicated that she is putting together a broad-based, internal task force to take the commentary prepared by the external reviewers and develop some specific recommendations for Senate consideration. She advised that this process is anticipated to result in a report for Senate s review in the new year. b) Recommendations on Priorities from Session The Chair elaborated briefly on the information in the meeting package (p ) that reviewed the Senate priorities and the recommendations from the yearend reports of standing committees concerning items recommended for attention in It was noted that no information was available in the summary concerning activity recommendations for the Senate Committee on Honours and Awards and it was agreed that this information would be added, as appropriate, and the up-dated chart would be circulated to the Committee by the University Secretariat. Members engaged in a brief, general discussion about the process for advancing discussions at the committee level over the coming weeks leading up to SPPC s next meeting and the preparation of a recommendation for Senate s consideration concerning its priorities for COU Academic Colleague Report a) Up-date on COU Activities The May 2013 report on COU activities provided in the meeting package was noted; an up-dated report was anticipated in the next month or two. Questions were invited. A member sought clarification on the government s announced intention to change the definition of what constitutes full-time study at Ontario universities. Dr. Summerlee reviewed the context and background for this matter, observing that the government has not yet taken action on this item. He advised that the proposed government change was not anticipated to have any significant effect on the University of Guelph s practices but that it could have a significant negative effect on several other Ontario universities and their students. Dr. Summerlee noted that there were a number of other changes being contemplated by government that could impact Ontario universities administrative practices, including several that could have a negative impact on students in terms of expectations on when they needed to remit their full annual tuition payments, fee payment deferral fees, and withdrawal fees. He advised that action on these items by government remained uncertain and that the University of Guelph has taken actions to try to help mitigate negative impacts for the University and its students. Given the uncertainties, he added, these pre-emptive actions may not be entirely successful. Page 3 of 4

4 Senate Priorities and Planning Committee Minutes of September 3, Other Business a) Joint Meetings of SPPC and Board of Governors Chairs Group The Chair provided members with a brief overview of the practice over the past four years of informal meetings of SPPC with the Board of Governors Chair, Vice- Chair(s) and Board Standing Committee Chairs. A chart was distributed summarizing the agenda topics for these meetings which are designed to build relationships among Senators and Governors and support informal information exchange and dialogue. Note was made of the dates for the meetings and members were encouraged to consider and recommend possible topics for discussion. Adjournment The meeting adjourned at approximately 11:10 a.m. n:\senate\standing committees and boards\senate priorities & planning committee (sppc)\minutes\ \3 sept 2013 sppc meeting notes.docx Page 4 of 4

5 9/5/2013 Outline of the presentation Facing our budget reality The political context Overnight success takes ten years in the making. (looking forward to this year) Priorities for the year ahead Budget situation for the University Five-year IP2 Government revenues flat to 2017 Efficiency levers cuts Unless we take action $32.4 million structural deficit How have we managed? Year 1 covered from reserves Year 2 bridged on a temporary basis whilst working on PPP Three years left to make cuts Process to balance budget Investment strategies Budget reallocations Control of our destiny: see and seize the opportunities Re-think our educational processes and structures Energize our research commitment and activities Capitalize on our community engagement Retain fiscal control 1

6 9/5/2013 The provincial context. is fluid Liberal government Strong support for the post-secondary system Tuition framework Government that listens consultations over the summer Pension temporary relief extension Conservative opposition Radically different view NDP balance of power Little evidence of a clear political agenda for education Commitment to lower tuition Understanding of the pension challenge The Liberal agenda SMA process Differentiation On-line learning Pathways for education Graduate education Fiscal control Transformation Experiential learning Internationalism renewed MTCU Roundtables over the summer High-level messages from roundtables Differentiation and SMAs On-line learning Credit transfer Graduate expansion Productivity / Innovation Fund Differentiation will be achieved through the SMA process Appointed Dr. Paul Genest as the negotiator Release framework for revision of SMAs in September Strong messages from government: SMA, credit transfer, on-line learning and PPP should all be like Guelph On-line funding $12 million to be allocated by December focus on ONCAT Graduate places allocated through SMA process additional 5,100 by 2017 Government supports Program prioritization SMA process On-line education Credit transfer Colleges and universities working together to create a seamless system 2

7 9/5/2013 Productivity / Innovation Fund Details on process Total available - $45m one-time program Calls for proposals Goals of Fund are to: Support innovation Improve quality of learning, learning outcomes and affordability Enable strategic collaboration Support system differentiation Three components Support Program Prioritization Processes Course redesign Administrative / service delivery transformation Colleges and Universities can submit proposals both as partners and as individual institutions Projects must achieve measurable cost savings and/or costavoidance for students, the institution or the sector There is a maximum of $23m available for proposals in two of the priority areas: PP and course/program redesign - maximum of $0.5 million per institution An additional $22 million for inter-institutional collaborations in the three priority areas Recommended proposals from Guelph For the first fund ($23 million - maximum $500K) Proposed School for Civil Society innovative curriculum delivery NCAT initiatives For the multilateral fund ($22 million) Guelph lead institution on a multi-million dollar ask for project related to: Learning outcomes e-learning portfolios and analytics Partners WLU, Waterloo, McMaster and D2L Academic priorities 2013/14 3

8 9/5/2013 Complete the PPP Continue evolution: evidence-based decision-making Report on progress on the IP goals against metrics Unpack and explain the PPP report and ranking Debrief on the process lessons for next time Provide feedback to authors/submitters etc. Release process for investment/development Identify cost-savings and innovation Identify next steps Intensify our efforts in curriculum innovation Complete course redesigns of two classes with NCAT Finalize curriculum for School for Civil Society Promote new pathway programs for transfer students Identify potentially other innovations at either program or course level Expand the learning outcomes initiative Identify High Impact Practices across the curricula Expand other innovations: hybrid courses; blended approaches; flipped classrooms etc. Structural Reviews to align with PPP Review of science Report to be shared Internal process established to determine potential actions Review of interdisciplinary programs to be considered by Senate Report to be shared Determine actions Identification and consideration of other potential structural reorganization arising from PPP 4