Strategic Plan Consultation
What We Heard
This report summarizes the input from our community so far and invites us to consider how a strategic plan could move things forward.
Town Halls
The strategic planning steering committee is hosting town halls in person and online in late February and early March to consult with you on the “What We Heard” report.
Environmental Scan
Institutional planning has to be done with due care for the environment in which institutions operate.
The Consultation Process
How can we make the greatest impact that reflects our university’s values, commitments and aspirations? To develop meaningful answers to this question, it is essential that the strategic plan be informed by community input. For that reason, over several months, we will gather to discuss important issues facing the university and opportunities available to address them. Every member of the University of Alberta community who wishes to participate in the consultation and planning process will have the opportunity to do so. During the months of November and December 2022, the strategic planning steering committee hosted consultation sessions across our campuses.
An online forum was also open to members of the university community to share anonymous written feedback. The steering committee carefully listened to your ideas, thoughts and feedback.
In mid-January 2023, a survey based on what we learned from our in-person consultations was shared via direct email and online. The university community had two weeks to complete this survey. The survey asked questions that expanded upon the consultation process up to that point, and seeked additional input on ideas that have been shared to gain a better sense of their broad appeal.
The purpose of an institutional strategic plan is to reflect an institution’s collective will. It spells out our common understanding of why we do what we do, and it defines the direction we want to chart for the future of our institution. Accomplishing this means identifying and crystallizing this common understanding through detailed consultation, and we need to ensure that our interpretation of this complex process is correct. Our steering committee has analyzed all discussion notes and survey results and published a What We Heard report, which is available on this website. This report shares with you what the community has told us, and provides you with another opportunity to tell us what we got right and what we need to refine. You can submit feedback via a form that is also available on this site. The strategic planning steering committee is also hosting town halls across our campuses in late February and early March to consult with you on the “What We Heard” report. Registration for these sessions is available on this site. After this detailed preparation work that ensures that the strategic planning process is truly aimed at our commonly-identified collective future, the work of drafting the actual plan begins.
Even though the resulting plan will be a culmination of these months of consultation, it will not be our institutional plan quite yet. We aim to present it for consideration to General Faculties Council and then the Board of Governors in late Spring.
Strategic planning is a time for critical reflection, but also for hope, ambition and courageous ideation. Join us as we work towards creating a vision that is truly ours and that enables us, the University of Alberta, to work together in order to accomplish even more than we already have as we approach our 125-year anniversary.