Structures
With UAT, the aim is to set a bold new direction for the university of tomorrow that will support and ensure the university's growing leadership and excellence in teaching, research and community engagement. Our goal is to build leaner, more agile, more coordinated and more strategic organizational structures that facilitate coordination rather than duplication. To enhance the student experience, our objective is a focus on programs (not units) with more accessible, efficient, effective, consistent student services. To achieve these goals, the university's operating model centralizes and integrates common administrative and academic services and functions into several core new structures, each of which will play a key role in the U of A of tomorrow.
Colleges
The colleges' academic and professional staff will ensure the delivery of core academic services across teaching, research and engagement. In addition to providing college-level services, each college will have a responsibility to foster interdisciplinary teaching and research initiatives within and among the colleges, as well as with the three stand-alone faculties.
Centres of Expertise
Centres of Expertise consist of teams of functional specialists. Under the leadership of associate vice-president units, these centres provide strategic expertise and specialized services in specific functional areas (such as finance, IT, or marketing) to lead strategy, policy development, and service delivery to staff and students. They will provide broad institutional leadership both in terms of setting service standards and ensuring service satisfaction.
Service centres
Service centres provide a central space for triaging and addressing enquiries from the U of A community. They represent the front door to all services in the university. The U of A will have two service centres: one for student needs and one for staff and faculty needs.
Associate vice-president units
Within each vice-president portfolio, associate vice-presidents (AVPs) will lead the delivery of portfolio services, including Centres of Expertise and service partners.
Service partners are accountable to their relevant Director of Partners and indirectly to the college/faculty/unit in which they are embedded. Centres of Expertise (three to five within each central unit) oversee important strategic activities that require specialist expertise.