Carleton outlined its short and long-term goals in a report the university submitted to the provincial government, as part of an effort by Ontario to have all its universities and colleges outline their plan for the next three years.
Carleton’s Strategic Mandate Agreement, submitted to the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, outlines the importance of the school within the community of Ottawa and highlights several proposals designed to move the university forward.
“Our main focus was to identify and build on Carleton’s strengths so that we could present our best case for Carleton’s future role in the Ontario post-secondary system,” Katherine Graham, chair of the Mandate Working Group said via email.
These proposals focus on integrated learning with Algonquin College, community building, and the development of Carleton as a global institution.
“Three specific objectives were chosen in light of the requirement that all submissions identify three priority areas,” Graham said.
Part of these objectives involves bringing more students to campus through transfers from Algonquin College and increasing the enrolment of international students.
Carleton president Roseann Runte said the school is well equipped to handle the influx of students.
“While some areas of the university would have difficulty growing, the university has sufficient space in others to permit judicious expansion,” Runte said via email.
The focus of the report is the student experience.
This includes increasing the ease of access to the university for students transferring from Algonquin College, to the implementation of new summer initiatives which will acclimatize international students to Canada.
“We feel confident that there will be sufficient interest in such a program and since it will assist international students in achieving success in their programs by giving them a head start,” Runte said.
“It should be seen by them as a good investment.”
Graham said these initiatives would have no immediate cost to current students and that the fact that the Carleton University Students’ Association, Carleton Academic Student Government, and the Graduate Students’ Association wrote letters of support shows that these initiatives keep students first.
“It is important to note that the submission indicates that we have real plans to move forward in each of our three initiatives,” Graham said.
The report was commissioned to all of Ontario’s post-secondary institutions by the provincial government last year.
