President's priorities for 2007-2008

Each year I submit for approval to the Board my priorities for the coming year, which are considered by the Board and then discussed with Senate.  My priorities for the coming year will be derived primarily from the new Strategic Plan, Engaging the Future, approved by the Senate and Board last fall. Two other important sources will be the 2007-08 Operating and Capital Budgets, approved by the Board in May, and the revised Campus Master Plan, approved by the Senate in May and going to the Board in June. 

One central priority, set out in the Strategic Plan and referred to in the Budget and the Campus Master Plan, is the expansion of graduate programs, funding from which plays a key role in providing additional budgetary revenues to recruit new faculty and staff.  Our plans for full-time enrolment, as set in the Budget, are:

                          Actual               Forecast             Forecast              % increase

                          2006-07          2007-08             2008-09            06-07 to 08-09

Master’s            2,295                  2,526                  2,712                       18.2%

PhD                   1,422                  1,550                  1,668                       17.3%

While the two-year increase is significant for both Master’s and PhD enrolments, I believe we will meet these targets and indeed I hope we can exceed them, so that we can access our full share of Provincial graduate funding.  The Provost will continue to work with Deans on issues of operating budget, faculty and staff complement, space, and student support so that we can ensure a good experience for the new students of 2007-08 and build momentum for the higher targets of 2008-09.

Another central priority will be continuing to improve the quality of our teaching and service to both graduate and undergraduate students.  We need to maintain our top ranking in student satisfaction in external surveys, while using NSSE and other additional data to find areas requiring improvement which may not show up clearly in the satisfaction surveys.  Finally, we will continue to work toward improving our performance in research, in line with our mission of the best student experience among the research universities of Canada.

The Priorities are set out in four broad categories as in previous years: Setting Directions; Keeping Academic Priorities First; Ensuring Open Administration and Effective Communication; and Strengthening Ties with the External Community.  Ours is a decentralized, collegial institution, and accomplishing the Priorities will require effort by all in our campus community, as well as determined leadership by Vice-Presidents, Deans, Chairs, and Directors.

1.  Setting Directions

• implementing the new Strategic Plan and the decisions supporting the Plan set out in the 2007-08 Budget 
  
• keeping our Long-Range Space Plan on budget and on time.  When the 2007-08 Budget was tabled, we had 16 construction projects over $1 million underway, with a total value of $237 million, the highest such figure in decades
  
• maintaining a sense of common purpose and solidarity among faculty, staff, students, alumni, and our friends in the community

2.  Putting Academic Priorities First:

     Supporting Excellence in Teaching and Research

• achieving our targets for graduate student enrolment, in order to access Provincial funding and thereby expand our faculty and staff complements
  
• finalizing the integration of the Robarts Research Institute into the Western family, recruiting an outstanding new Scientific Director, and achieving a strong successful year for Robarts science
  
• working with faculty and staff leaders to ensure a positive and respectful working environment for all Western employees, and helping those leaders deal effectively with behavior that threatens such an environment
  
• improving the scope and quality of career services for students
  
• increasing the recruitment and retention of aboriginal students
  
• effectively managing the $190 million from the debenture of May, 2007 in a manner which supports our space plan and minimizes our overall borrowing costs
  
• maintaining strong relations with faculty, staff, and student associations, and with the Affiliated University Colleges, Fanshawe College, and our partners in health research in London
  
• providing support to faculty to maintain our ranking as one of Canada’s leading research universities, and tracking our ranking in funding and grants per faculty member from the three major federal councils
  
• creating a single technology transfer office which would bring together all major research partners in London

3.  Ensuring Open Administration and Effective Communication

• continuing to build the Public Accountability page on our website, so that students, parents, and the public have easy access to essential data on Western and to comparisons with other universities
  
• In response to suggestions from Board members, working with the Board Chair, University Secretary, and the Senior Operations Committee to promote and encourage discussion on those issues which Board members have identified as especially important
  
• making an explicit link between the priorities in the Strategic Plan and decisions on the allocation of resources, including those in our annual operating and capital budgets
  
• working with the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO) to create an accountability framework which encourages diversity and autonomy among Ontario’s universities
  
• addressing key issues in the President’s Report at Senate and the Board of Governors, and being available to answer questions in those and other forums, such as the Campus Council
  
• using the Leaders Forum as a central vehicle for encouraging discussion and communication on key University issues, and in determining those issues on which better communication is essential
  
• celebrating the successes of our faculty, staff, and students and visiting them where they work and study

4.  Strengthening Ties with the External Community

• setting priorities and recruiting volunteers for our next major fundraising campaign, with a possible launch date of fall, 2009
  
• working with COU to ensure that support for universities is an issue in the Provincial election of fall 2007, while encouraging all parties to commit to funding which will allow significant quality improvement
  
• continuing our efforts to secure greater support for research and graduate fellowships from the federal government
  
• effectively working with our neighbors and the City on the major neighborhood issues set out in our Strategic Plan, including promoting the appropriate balance of student and residential housing in areas adjoining the campus, the enforcement of by-laws to prevent substandard and unsafe conditions in student housing, and encouraging respectful student behaviour in residential neighborhoods
  
• securing support from the federal and provincial governments for a major regional research initiative involving key partners in southwestern Ontario
  
• working with the City and London business, in such areas as service learning and internships, to help our graduates find jobs in the City, so that more of them will settle in the London area and contribute to the local economy