Our goal is to be Canada's finest university for applied
undergraduate education.
Over the next five years, we will revitalize our commitment to
students, learning, and academic excellence. We will
rededicate ourselves to teaching of the highest quality while
nurturing scholarly, research, and creative activity and
graduate studies. We will improve our capacity to respond
creatively to forces emanating from our external environment.
And we will develop a stronger sense of community where
everyone at Ryerson feels valued and respected, and where all
can share in the pride of our collective achievements.
The Ryerson we envision five years from now will be a more
vibrant learning community, confident in the worth of its
mandate and in its ability to fulfil it. The larger community
will recognize Ryerson for its distinctive mission and for its
academic quality, its focus on students and learning, and its
innovative spirit.
With this report, the Vision Task Group completes its six month journey
with the Ryerson community. During this time we have been given an unusual
opportunity to listen and talk to many of our colleagues about their vision
of the University's future. They have spoken frankly about their hopes,
and their worries too. We are grateful to every one of them and hope that
this report reflects in some measure how we have benefited from their insights
and advice. We count it a privilege to have been able to work with them.
Despite the difficult times universities are going through and the pressure
this puts on our whole institution, there is a good deal of optimism that
Ryerson five years hence will be better and stronger; members of the community
are committed to making that happen. There is virtual unanimity that our
basic mandate is the right one and that we possess the strengths necessary
to carry it out successfully.
In carrying out its work, the Vision Task Group has not so much discovered
a vision for Ryerson as confirmed one that already exists and is widely
shared. We have tried our best to give it flesh, and to frame recommendations
for action that will assist in its implementation.
The External Environment
The external environment is an obvious determinant of our future: a
source of ideas and resources, opportunities and threats; of achievable
possibilities, and a "marketplace" for our activities. Our interim
report commented at length on key economic and societal changes that will
have a bearing on what Ryerson can and should do over the course of the
next five years. What follows is a synopsis of these trends.
Transformation into an information economy. Information technology
is pervading all sectors of the economy and bringing in its wake a widespread
transformation of employment into high-wage "knowledge jobs"
and low-wage "personal service" jobs. Part-time work, multiple-job
holding and self-employment are all on the rise. The explosive growth of
knowledge and rapid advances in technology imply a long-term demand for
lifelong learning and retraining; there are also opportunities for redesigning
curricula and modes of instruction using new technology and interactive
media. However, affordable access to these new technologies and realization
of demonstrable productivity gains remain troubling issues.
Internationalization. Trade liberalization and the creation of
large trading blocs have opened new markets around the world while technological
advances in communications and computing, including the Internet, are bridging
distance barriers. Many universities are actively seeking international
students, incorporating international components into curricula, and investigating
the provision of off-site education in other countries. Cross-cultural
knowledge and multilingualism are distinct assets in today's workplace.
Changing student demographics. Constancy and change are both
apparent in the student population. Projections suggest a continuing solid
applicant pool for post-secondary education in the Greater Toronto Area
and Ontario overall; an exception may be part-time enrolments which have
recently declined across the system. There is a growing proportion of students
from visible minorities; women are pursuing university education in increased
numbers across a wide range of fields. The proportion of students whose
mother tongue is neither English nor French is edging up; levels of preparation
for university studies are increasingly diverse; and students are facing
greater financial pressures in terms of tuition, living expenses and employment.
Growing fiscal constraints and the need for funding diversification.
Provincial government support for post-secondary education has been in
decline for two decades, and sharply so since 1994. The extent to which
this will stabilize or reverse is uncertain. Universities have begun to
rely more on non-government funding sources: tuition fees have been increased
and are now more differentiated across programs; partnerships with business
and industry are more common and additional efforts are being made to secure
endowments; there is also a move to develop further partnerships among
universities and joint ventures with colleges. Restructuring and rationalization
have been used to achieve annual budget reduction targets.
Greater competition and demands for responsiveness, flexibility and
accountability . With an expanding array of organizations serving as
education providers, local competitors may be other universities, colleges,
or private schools; competition can also arise as institutions from other
jurisdictions begin to develop and market on-line courses and degrees more
extensively. Private sector training institutes are targeting particular
niches to fill constantly changing corporate training needs. Markets for
university continuing education courses can be displaced as a result. Book
publishers, multimedia software developers and broadcasters are also offering
courses and information products. Responsiveness and flexibility are critical
to keep universities at the forefront of educational innovation. In an
increasingly competitive environment universities must demonstrate that
they can meet high standards of accountability and performance, and that
they are responsive to learner needs.
Our Position and Profile
Based on what we have heard during our consultations, the centre point
of Ryerson's position and profile seems perfectly clear: our distinctive
status as a polytechnic university with a mandate for applied education.
With a program mix very heavily weighted towards professional fields, the
largest Continuing Education enrolment of any Canadian university, and
a mission that affirms the value of career-oriented undergraduate learning,
Ryerson is well situated to command public recognition and acceptance.
There is near unanimity across all sectors of the University and amongst
our external advisors that these qualities should be maintained, enriched,
and proclaimed proudly.
There is also wide agreement that newly mandated activities offer significant
potential to diversify and enhance our future position. We anticipate growing
achievements in both graduate programs and expanded scholarly, research,
and creative activity over the next five years. These can be built on in
years ahead in ways that complement our current focus.
Compelling though our mandate might be, however, we cannot afford to
be complacent. We have a great deal of work to do if we are to enhance,
or even to retain, our competitive position. In a time of rapid societal
change the university system as a whole, and Ryerson in particular, must
adapt in order to survive. And while we have heard the clear message that
Ryerson should build on its own strengths and not try to emulate other
universities, we have also heard a consistent undertone: that the status
quo is not a viable option.
A number of themes have arisen consistently throughout our consultations
and deliberations. Taken together, these strongly suggest what Ryerson's
planning priorities and strategic directions should be over the next five
years.
Predominant Themes
Student-Centredness. Students are the focus of all that we do,
and the quality of their learning experience is our first priority. Ryerson
should adopt an explicitly student-centred philosophy.
Academic Quality . Academic quality needs constantly to be emphasized,
and continuous improvement is imperative. Our quality assessment processes
must be rigorous. and we need to be selective, building on our strengths
and addressing our weaknesses.
Responsiveness. We must be more responsive in our planning and
decision-making in order to remain current and relevant.
Sense of Community. People and relationships are the key to our
strength, and we need to build a more vibrant and inclusive learning community.
We should encourage cooperation while eroding barriers and territoriality.
Our Cosmopolitan Setting. Ryerson exists in a "global city",
a resource which we should draw upon more extensively. We should forge
deeper, mutually beneficial links with the larger community. Diversity
and internationalization should be reflected in our curriculum, students,
faculty and staff.
Distinctiveness. Ryerson's differentiated mission is its competitive
advantage. We should build upon this by emphasizing sectoral links, multidisciplinary
programming, and targeted scholarly, research, and creative activity (SRC).
We should define standards of excellence relevant to our mission and communicate
them widely.
New Alliances. Universities are increasingly interconnected with
one another and with the external sectors. Ryerson is well positioned to
develop strong external alliances, and we should actively pursue partnerships
that serve our mission.
In the remainder of our report, these themes are integrated into our
assessment of specific topic areas where the University's attention needs
to be focused. We identify some activities that we think could be done
better, processes that need to be developed or refined, and systems and
structures that need to be changed. We take as given that Ryerson is working
from real strengths; our purpose is to sketch out some directions which,
if followed, would help us to retain and enhance those strengths, and approach
the future more assertively.
The Learning Experience
Students, and the learning in which they are engaged, provide our raison
d'etre. This is hardly a novel idea for Ryerson, which has always considered
itself to be student centred. But our reality only partially matches our
ideal, and we need to examine seriously the nature of the learning experience
that our students undergo.
One question that has been posed to the Vision Task Group and to the
community is what Ryerson would want its graduates to recall of their experience
here. First rate career preparation and the skills required for professional
development are central, but personal growth and discovery, broadening
intellectual horizons, and participation in a vibrant learning community
are also essential elements of the learning experience. We want our graduates
to recall Ryerson as a university that respected and cared about them as
students and as individuals. We want them to feel that they made the right
decision by coming here.
A high quality learning experience involves more than excellence in
our programs of study, essential though this may be. It also involves the
academic environment in its broadest sense. It requires the University
to take its students and their varied needs, interests, and circumstances
seriously, and to consider the success of its students as the primary measure
of its own success.
Recommendations
1 . All existing non-classroom student support activities should be
reviewed and made as accessible, integrated, efficient and user-friendly
as possible. There should be more and better coordinated interaction between
Student Services and the Faculties, schools, and departments. The benchmarking
of comparable systems in place at other universities should be standard
practice.
Academic advising should be better coordinated and more efficient.
Specific measures should be implemented to promote the successful adaptation
of first year and returning adult students.
More emphasis should be placed on programs that promote a sense of community
among our students. These might include peer support networks, interdisciplinary
project work and campus volunteer activities, among others.
2. Enhanced student financial aid has to be a prioritv for the University
as tuition and other costs continue to rise and student debt loads reach
ominous proportions.
3. We need to learn more about our students if we are to respond effectively
to their needs and circumstances. Sample student and graduate surveys should
be conducted annually in every program to determine their level of satisfaction
with their courses, the program, and the overall learning experience. Results
of these surveys should inform the academic planning processes of the program,
Faculty, and the University as a whole.
4. Ryerson needs a clear, consistent university-wide protocol for addressing
student concerns and grievances. Although mechanisms are in place to do
this, current policy and procedural frameworks do not ensure their consistent
application from one case or program to another.
All committees, individuals, and units that deal with student grievances
should present an annual report to Academic Council or the relevant senior
administrator.
5. Our physical environment must be safe, well enough maintained to
engender a sense of place, and functionally adequate to support a high
quality learning experience. The University must prevent its physical environment
from deteriorating further; indeed, upgrading is required.
Our Undergraduate Programs
Ryerson graduates are widely associated with qualities such as work
readiness, a well-developed working knowledge of their chosen career fields
and disciplines, an applied orientation grounded in theoretical and conceptual
strengths, and an informed appreciation of the broader social and cultural
context. The University and its programs should ensure that our undergraduate
students continue to develop these attributes.
Direct, concerted effort is required to achieve this during a time when
knowledge, career patterns, and workplace demands are changing rapidly
and in complex ways. At the level of individual programs, we need to address
issues of quality and currency more pointedly than ever before. Our program
curricula have to be highly responsive to changes in the external environment,
changes which are transforming many of the sectors which we have traditionally
served. More capacity is needed to systematically read and interpret trends,
and to manage information about the macro-environment in such a way as
to enable our programs to react quickly. Benchmarking comparable programs
at other (universities) should be a routine element of the academic planning
process.
Many of the skills that graduates of the future will need are ones that
transcend individual program and disciplinary boundaries. Computer literacy,
communication skills, entrepreneurship and a well informed international
perspective, among others, should be integral to the learning experience
of all students.
Our program curricula must continue to integrate applied, theoretic,
and liberal studies. This is a defining characteristic of the Ryerson degree
and a key asset for students and the University alike.
Recommendations
6. Benchmarks should be identified for each program - and for the University
as a whole - and these should be evaluated routinely as part of the ongoing
planning process. Three or four of the most comparable programs/universities
should be monitored closely in terms of organization, curriculum, priorities,
and so on.
7. We should ensure that students in all programs acquire essential
skills and knowledge in the areas of information technology, communication,
entrepreneurship and career development, living and working in an international
environment, professional practice and ethics, and critical and creative
thinking.
8. The quality of our undergraduate programs depends on the quality
of teaching. The University must increase its emphasis on good teaching
and ensure that teaching ability is a central criterion in faculty hiring,
tenure, promotion and merit decisions. We should expand our support for
teaching enhancement and innovation.
9. If our programs are to achieve the highest possible quality, we need
to invest strategically in the interrelated areas of information technology,
instructional innovation, and the Library. Our planning in these areas
must be fully coordinated.
10. With the move towards more learner-centred education, the development
of graduate programs, the growth of SRC, and the realities of a knowledge
society, the Library's capacities must be expanded. We need to invest to
ensure that it can play an effective role as an information provider in
the traditional sense and as a central player in the University's overall
information management strategies.
11. All Ryerson programs should provide students with opportunities
to engage in a range of curricular modes that promote the development of
independent, collaborative, multidisciplinary and experiential learning.
The University should identify experiential learning as a priority, whether
through co-ops, internships, or other means.
12. The distinctions between full-time and part-time programs should
be reassessed to determine whether these distinctions continue to serve
a useful purpose, or whether they present unnecessary impediments to flexible
learning.
13. Innovative and flexible modes of curriculum delivery should be strongly
promoted to accommodate the diverse needs of full-time, part-time, and
returning adult learners.
More varied scheduling is needed, whether through evening or intense
workshop courses, an expanded summer program, or new configurations of
day course schedules. The barriers that impede the movement of students
between day and evening courses should be reduced. Modular course structures,
where academically appropriate, could enhance student access to specific
content areas.
We should develop more on-line and multimedia-based courses. The potential
of Open College to contribute to the University's flexible learning objectives
should be explored.
14. In the periodic review of programs, departments and schools should
be asked to identify specific learning objectives and to show how they
are being achieved. Consideration should be given to a learning outcomes
approach, both at the program and course levels.
15. Ryerson must promote more collaboration among programs, departments,
and Faculties.
For both financial and academic reasons, we should promote resource
pooling, curriculum sharing, and other forms of Joint initiative. We should
encourage more forms of interaction between Continuing Education and the
schools or departments.
16. New programs should generally follow a multidisciplinary and/or
partnership approach and address particular market niches.
Our Undergraduate Students
The ethno-cultural composition of Ryerson's student population is among
the most diverse in Canada. We want our student population to continue
to broadly reflect the diversity of our larger community, and also to incorporate
a strong international student presence.
We should attempt to increase the number of well-qualified applicants:
those applying directly from high school, transfer students, returning
adults and other "non-traditional" learners. We should focus
additional recruitment energies on the latter three categories, which comprise
approximately forty per cent of our total full-time program enrollment
and generate over forty thousand registrations per year in Continuing Education.
Economic circumstances ensure that many of our students will be workers
in career transition, and the demands of the knowledge economy will tend
to promote recurrent upgrading throughout an individual's working life.
Our applied focus, program mix, and proven commitment to lifelong learning
combine to give Ryerson a strong competitive position in attracting these
students.
Our programs should admit only students who have a reasonable probability
of succeeding academically. To admit students who are not judged to have
a realistic chance for success would be both academically and ethically
unsound. Enrollment management should be based on the premise of student
su ccess and retention, not student failure and attrition.
Recommendations
17. Programs should admit only those applicants who are considered to
have a reasonable probability of academic success. When a program is consistently
unable to attract sufficient numbers of academically qualified students,
its first year admission targets should be reduced and/or its viability
reassessed.
Within this framework, admission decisions should continue to reside
with the individual schools and departments, since they are best able to
identify the selection criteria most suited to their particular programs.
The University should promote further research into the specific indicators
of student success on a program by program basis.
18. We should adopt more sensitive admission and advanced standing procedures
for adult, in-career and transfer students. Prior learning assessment should
be carried out more systematically, and transfers of credit should be expedited.
19. Student admission, retention, and promotion data should be incorporated
into our periodic review of programs.
20. First Nations students are currently under-represented at Ryerson.
We should assess the reasons for this, and consider what steps should be
taken to address the imbalance.
21. Further articulation agreements should be sought with the colleges,
and other means developed to ease the transfer of qualified college graduates
into our programs.
Our Graduate Programs
While our primary focus should continue to be on undergraduate education,
graduate programs are essential to Ryerson's future academic agenda. They
will be critical in helping us to maintain our leadership in polytechnic
education.
It has already been determined through Academic Council's endorsement
of The Report of the Graduate Studies Working Group that
our graduate programs should adhere to the polytechnic model, integrating
theory and practice. The same report also established that our graduate
programs in general will emphasize multidisciplinarity, collaborative and
partnership approaches, and serve new areas of societal need. These are
important values which ensure that graduate studies will complement our
undergraduate strengths and mission.
The development of between two and five Master's programs would be a
reasonable accomplishment over the next five years. These programs will
provide a model for subsequent development and will also serve to promote
focused academic enrichment within the University. We need to understand,
though, that graduate programs will not comeabout without committed, directed,
and sustained effort on the part of the University. They will not emerge
as simple, straight line extrapolations of our undergraduate activities,
but will require new ways of creating and maintaining academic strength.
Recommendations
22. Strategic faculty hiring is essential. In areas with graduate program
aspirations, the qualifications of new faculty must be consistent with
the standards set by the Ontario Council on Graduate Studies. We must develop
a "critical mass" in areas where we have, or can develop, a competitive
advantage with respect to graduate programs and/or SRC activity.
23. As part of its ongoing benchmarking, Ryerson should analyse how
comparable universities deal with graduate faculty support and workloads,
graduate student support, and infrastructure. We should determine well
in advance of graduate program implementation how they will be handled
here.
24. The roles and training of academic, teaching, and SRC assistants
should be considered in light of our commitments to quality in both the
undergraduate and the graduate learning experience. Guidelines should be
created and training programs introduced.
Our Scholarly, Research, and Creative Activity
SRC activity is integral to the academic mission of the University.
It is an essential component in the creation of a stimulating work enviromnent
for faculty and students, underscores the notion of Ryerson as a learning-centred
institution, and strongly enhances the undergraduate learning experience.
But a vibrant SRC culture will not emerge without deliberate measures
to foster it. The University must demonstrate both symbolically and in
tangible ways that innovative, high quality SRC work is valued as a key
component of our mission. Adequate support and infrastructure must be provided,
and creative and flexible approaches to faculty workload patterns are required.
Taken as a whole, our SRC activity should reflect Ryerson's applied
mandate, and theUniversity's overall strategic SRC investment should emphasize
applied work. This is not to insist that all SRC work should be of the
applied variety; distinctions between applied and basic research are not
always precise or even meaningful. High quality work will serve Ryerson's
cause no matter where it fits along the applied/theoretical spectrum.
We need to be able to monitor and evaluate our SRC performance over
time. This requires the establishment of clear SRC objectives and targets
in each school, department an Faculty, as well as by the University as
a whole, and routine benchmarking in light of these.
Recommendations
25. Outstanding contributions and achievements in SRC activity should
be acknowledged and recognized by the University.
26. Each Faculty, school and department, and the University as a whole
should set out clear SRC objectives and targets as part of its academic
plans.
27. To the extent that applied SRC is different from basic, it should
be assessed differently, albeit with comparable rigour. Ryerson should
develop its own internal criteria to complement conventional means of evaluating
the quality and worth of applied SRC activity.
28. Faculty workloads must reflect more realistically the demands of
conducting SRC, and of balancing SRC and teaching.
29. We should build on existing strengths by identifying SRC niches
or themes. The University should initially target a relatively small number
of areas, perhaps in the order of a half dozen, for focused SRC development.
30. We must develop policies and guidelines around partnerships given
that new sectoral links and collaborative endeavours with other institutions
will be critical elements of both graduate programs and SRC activity.
Our Professoriate
A university's capacity to live up to its mandate and to achieve excellence
in teaching, SRC, and service is determined in large measure by the quality
and commitment of its professoriate. Such excellence is achieved most readily
in an environment in which academic freedom is championed. This must remain
one of Ryerson's essential values.
In aggregate, roles for faculty must be multifaceted, accommodating
both SRC and teaching emphases. Both good teaching and strong SRC activity
bring credit to the University, enhance the learning experience, and serve
our mission. We are concerned about the tensions that have developed between
Mode I and Mode 11, and are convinced that Ryerson must find ways to reduce
these tensions. The value of a faculty member's contribution to the University
is properly assessed on the basis of their commitment and the quality of
their work, not the contractual category into which it falls.
The University should recognize and reward exceptional achievement in
teaching. For an institution with such a long-standing public commitment
to teaching, it is most unusual that we provide so little recognition of
excellence in this activity. In order to identify outstanding achievement,
we need appropriate forms of ongoing peer and student review. Ongoing assessment
should be seen as part of our accountability to students and to the public,
and as essential to maintaining high quality.
Sound decisions on future faculty hiring cannot be made entirely on
the basis of short-term, local considerations. The strategic and immediate
needs of individual schools and departments are of obvious importance and
must be addressed, but they must also be balanced with the broader mandate
and aims of the University.
The criteria for faculty hiring at Ryerson must reflect our differentiated
mission. Our "ideal" blend of academic credentials, professional
qualifications and workplace experience, teaching skills, and SRC potential
is likely to differ somewhat from that of other universities by virtue
of our applied mandate and distinctive program mix. The weighting of these
criteria will vary among Faculties, schools, and departments, but certain
basic standards should be upheld rigorously throughout the University.
A large core of full-time tenure track faculty is essential to the long-term
development of Ryerson and its programs. At the same time, we need to acknowledge
explicitly the contributions of sessional and part-time instructors who
bring outstanding commitment, expertise, and energy to the University.
These instructors are essential not only to our capacity to deliver the
curriculum, but also to its currency, quality, and applied nature.
Ryerson's commitments to equity, diversity, and internationalization
must be reflected in its faculty profile. Our student body mirrors the
diversity of Toronto's population, and over time the professoriate must
also reflect this reality.
Recommendations
31. Excellence in teaching should be recognized through awards and other
forms of acknowledgement.
32. Ongoing peer review and student evaluation of teaching should become
the norm for all faculty and instructors as part of our accountability
framework, and as the basis for determining outstanding performance.
33. More support must be provided for innovation in teaching and course
delivery. Depending on specific circumstances, such support may take the
form of technological infrastructure, training, academic assistants, or
other means.
Support must also be available to help faculty respond to a host of
other changes: internationalization of career fields and the changing profile
of the student population, to name just two examples.
34. Clearer guidelines, standards, and processes should be established
to ensure that faculty hiring satisfies strategic as well as immediate
needs of schools and departments, Faculties, and the University.
35. Given our emphasis on applied education, new faculty hiring should
include professionals and academics with experience of the career field,
as well as recent graduates. More faculty hiring should be cross-disciplinary
or cross-Faculty in nature. Better systems and incentives should be created
to make cross-appointments possible for both new and current faculty.
36. Faculty hiring policy should be more proactive to ensure that Ryerson's
professoriate is more reflective of the diversity of our student population.
The Learning Community
We are all learners, and all contributors to the learning experience
of others: staff and faculty, students and administrators. The term learning
community is a powerful one that speaks of common cause around a set of
shared values, purposes, and processes, within a framework of mutual respect.
Ryerson's sense of community must be strengthened. We have heard reference
to a wide range of perceived organizational chasms: between the academic
and administrative dimensions of Ryerson; Mode I and Mode II faculty; tenure
stream faculty and sessional instructors; staff and faculty; full-time,
part-time and continuing education students. It isessential that we bridge
these gaps.
A fundamental part of building a framework of common purpose and mutual
respect is the articulation of a clear set of organizational and community
values. We have been impressed by how closely the values expressed to us
during our consultations mirror the Aims of the University adopted by Academic
Council and the Board of Governors in June, 1994. There is actually wide
agreement on Ryerson's core beliefs, but we need to do a better job of
communicating and building upon them.
No single group can remedy this situation, and we cannot equate community
with contractual rights and obligations. The creation of a more vibrant,
cooperative university environment would improve the working and learning
experience for all of us, and we are going to have to demonstrate some
selflessness and generosity of spirit to achieve the desired end.
Recommendations
37. The Aims of the University (see Appendix) should be reaffirmed and
widely publicized. They set out clear and strong values for Ryerson, and
provide a starting point for the community-building process.
38. As an elementary aspect of community building, we need to find ways
to acknowledge the contributions and achievements of all members of the
community: staff, sessional and part-time instructors, students, faculty,
and administrators.
39. To promote effective and inclusive participation on Ryerson's various
committees, councils, and boards, more varied operational procedures should
be employed. For example, part-time students who may find it impossible
to participate in regular weekly committee meetings may be able to contribute
through occasional round tables.
40. We should involve alumni more extensively in the life of the University.
They are among our most effective spokespersons, and have much to offer
through ongoing participation in their own programs, on advisory committees,
and in University planning processes. Alumni surveys should be conducted
regularly.
41. Although we cannot offer a specific recommendation on this point,
we echo the lament of others before us that the University lacks a recognizable
physical "front door", a gateway that provides a symbolic as
well as a functional point of entry into the Ryerson learning community.
42. A sense of community also involves outreach beyond the campus. Ryerson
is not only a university; it is also a neighbour, a community resource,
and a participant in the public life of the city. We should try to integrate
these roles more closely into our own programs and services, potentially
enhancing both the student learning experience and the overall sense of
community within Ryerson.
An Urban University in a Global City
There can be few universities in North America more tied to the heart
of a great metropolis than Ryerson, and our location has come to have symbolic
as well as practical meaning for us. Each week during the academic year,
some forty thousand people go in and out of our buildings, crammed as they
are in twenty-odd acres of gritty downtown, to study and work. Our applied
programs derive relevance from their proximity to the worlds of business,
health and community services, communications and government which lie
within a few kilometres of our campus. A great network of public transit
enables one of the most diverse university student populations in Canada
to reach their lecture halls, laboratories, and studios day and night.
If ever a university was positioned to serve the needs and aspirations
of a dynamic urban working population, it is Ryerson.
This fact underscores the need for maximum responsiveness and flexibility
in the delivery of our programs - a theme which prompts many of the recommendations
in this report. It also speaks to our role as neighbour to a downtown community
and suggests that we should look more closely at how we can link to and
contribute to the well being of that neighbourhood.
At the same time, if our mission and programs are to remain relevant,
they must also reflect the world-wide framework in which our graduates
will be living and working. The impact of the emerging "global city",
increasingly being felt in so many career fields, will intensify over the
next five years. This development must be matched with an equal commitment
to implement an internationalization strategy for the University, blueprints
for which have already been drawn.
Organizational Issues
Ryerson must ensure that its organizational structures and alignments
support the vision of the University. They must optimize the flow of information,
the accountability and responsiveness of decision-making, the allocation
of scarce resources, and our ability to innovate. It is far from clear
that our current structures reflect the realities of an age in which knowledge
changes shape constantly, and we think that the University should be open
to the possibility of academic and administrative re-organization.
Barriers should be eliminated and new connections created in order to
promote more dynamic, svnergistic relations among schools, departments,
Faculties, and support units. Information exchange among constituencies
within the University must be enhanced.
Ryerson must develop a more comprehensive and focused approach to strategic
planning. Without such planning we will be poorly positioned to respond
to new opportunities and threats or to make difficult decisions about resource
allocation. We have heard from many members of the community that these
decisions do have to be made strategically and that further budget reductions,
if required, should not be simply distributed across the University. The
risk of lowering the quality of everything we do, and seriously damaging
the working and learning environment, is too great.
New funding and resource opportunities need to be pursued systematically. The funding environment is increasingly complex and competitive, and proposals are often beyond the scope of a single academic unit - or, increasingly, even a single university. We need to develop coordinated, proactive mechanisms to identify opportunities and respond effectively.
Academic administrators should be primarily engaged in collegial leadership
and long range planning, not routine management. The model of academic
administration prevalent at Ryerson is one that forces administrators,
who are normally faculty on teaching release, to devote significant amounts
of time to day-to-day operational matters. This is a questionable use of
resources and expertise, and is not conducive to innovation, adaptability,
and strategic thinking within the academic units. The needs of the University
might be better served if more of the detailed administration were handled
by qualified support staff.
Over the next several years, as we shape our role as a polytechnic university,
it will be especially important to ensure that all those appointed to academic
administrative positions are committed to Ryerson's distinctive mission.
We cannot afford to retreat into departmentally-based parochialism, drift
towards conformity with other universities, or chase after every ephemeral
trend in the external environment. The University's mission provides a
strong base for coherent, sustained progress, and those appointed to leadership
positions must advance this cause.
Investments in support staff are investments in the future of the University.
Budget reductions, our expanded mandate, and technological changes have
combined to place extraordinary new demands on staff. For many, workloads
have become more complex, For most, reduced levels of staffing have created
new pressures. Our ability to function as a humane, efficient, learning
institution depends on the support provided by staff in many different
areas.
Recommendations
43. Organizational structures should be reviewed in order to increase
responsiveness, efficiency, and accountability.
44. Formal strategic and academic planning processes should be implemented
at every level of the University: schools and departments, Faculties and
administrative units, as well as the University as a whole.
Decisions regarding new resource allocations and further budget reductions,
if required, should be rooted in these strategic plans.
45. The University should recognize outstanding service by staff members.
Staff must be provided with professional development and training opportunities
if they are to respond to the new demands being placed upon them.
46. We should consistently monitor significant trends in the external
environment and develop new means to share information relevant to academic
planning processes among constituent groups.
47. Mechanisms should be developed to liberate more of the time and
energy of academic administrators (Chairs, Directors, and Deans) for academic
leadership and long-rang planning. We should consider a model in which
a wider range of administrative tasks is handled by qualified support staff.
48. We must strengthen our capacity to identify and respond to funding
opportunities in a systematic manner.
Making Choices
In an environment of many competing claims for scarce resources, Ryerson
must be clear about its priorities and be ready to identify strengths and
weaknesses, budget selectively, and make difficult allocative decisions.
We need a process of consultation and debate to set priorities and develop
comprehensive criteria, with the aim of achieving a reasonable consensus
with respect to their fairness and suitability. But ultimately, responsibility
for action must rest with the University's duly appointed leadership.
This report suggests some priorities: there may well be others that
need to be weighed. Within a short time, a definitive list should be put
before Academic Council and the Board for debate and approval. Their decisions
should guide strategic resource allocation over the next five years.
The measures used to determine strengths and weakness, whether for academic
activities or support functions, must be rational, fair and defensible.
They should be informed by systematic benchmarking with comparable external
programs, activities, and institutions.
Criteria for program evaluation should include: societal need:
measured by enrolment demand, demand for and employability of graduates
in the program field, distinctiveness and niche within the university system;
program quality: judged by reputation and accreditation status vis-a-vis
the profession, employers, graduate schools, student entering grades, faculty
qualifications, student and faculty awards; financial viability:
assessed as to relative costs and cost efficiencies, ability to meet program
cost limits, fit between curricula and student admissions quality, capacity
of program to retain and graduate students; mission congruence:
centrality of program goals to the university's mission, the correspondence
between program goals and performance.
Suitable criteria, quality and efficiency measures will obviously also
need to be developed for academic and administrative support activities
and functions.
Conclusion
As we observed in our interim report, Ryerson is not an institution
with an identity crisis. There is virtually unanimous agreement within
the community that our mandate provides us with a strong competitive position
and a clear sense of direction. There is also consensus that we possess
the strengths necessary to respond successfully to the new demands being
imposed upon us. We have tried in this report to capture some of the commitment,
pride, and confidence that Ryerson inspires among the groups and individuals
who have spoken to us. At the same time, we have cautioned against complacency.
We face a complex future, and our place in it will not be secured by distinctiveness
alone, but through imagination, creativity, and hard work. Our interactions
with the community during the past six months have made it perfectly clear
that these qualities are present in abundance. We leave our task with a
great deal of optimism about Ryerson's future.
May, 1997
The Vision Task Group:
David Amborski (School of Urban and Regional Planning)
Catherine Arlein (Office of Research Services)
Marilynn Booth (Dean, Continuing Education)
Kelli Campbell (Vice President, Education; RYESAC)
Wendy Cukier (School of Administration and Information Management)
Terence Grier, Chair (President Emeritus)
Michael Kassam (Associate Director, CATE)
Suanne Kelman (School of Journalism)
Dale Patterson (Vice Chair, Board of Governors)
Claude Sam Foh (President, CESAR)
John Shields (Department of Politics and Public Administration)
John Thorpe (Centre for Student Development and Counselling)
Sue Williams (Director, School of Nursing)
AIMS OF THE UNIVERSITY
In carrying out its mission, Ryerson will be guided by the following
institutional aims:
To provide its students an educational experience of high quality, fostering
in them professional knowledge and skills, critical enquiry, ethical standards,
creativity, commitment to lifelong learning, a capacity to make an early
and sustained contribution to their chosen field and to be effective problem
solvers. It will reflect:
* excellence and commitment to teaching that encourages students to
play an active part in their learning;
* a curriculum of professional and liberal studies which offers the
breadth and depth required to appreciate society's broader issues and problems,
and the understanding and knowledge necessary for professional leadership;
* academic programs which combine theory and practice, directly connected
to their professional fields, that anticipate and respond to emerging trends
and future societal need;
* interdisciplinary studies and international perspectives;
I
* activities and support systems that enhance success and well-being
of the whole student.
To promote scholarly, research and creative activities which reinforce
the teaching and learning experience, which attract external support, and
will be of benefit to society.
To provide career-oriented continuing education and life-long learning
opportunities that are accessible, responsive, and comprehensive.
To facilitate the creation of professional partnerships and the transfer
of knowledge and technology between the workplace and the university.
To ensure that all who work at Ryerson will be respected for their unique
contributions to the university's mission, will treat one another with
trust and dignity; and will join in fostering a fair and equitable environment
where creativity, teamwork, genuine participation and the capacity to reach
one's potential are both valued and actively encouraged.
To dedicate itself to respect for human rights and dignity and to a
caring, safe and humane environment which is accessible, diverse, equitable
and free from discrimination and harassment.
To combine accountability, openness, academic freedom, professional
responsibility, and integrity in its processes of decision-making and governance.
To ensure that its educational and public responsibilities reflect the
changing needs of the local, regional, national and international communities
it seeks to serve.
Adopted by Academic Council and Board of Governors June,
1997