2017-20 Strategic Mandate Agreement: University of Windsor

Preamble

This Strategic Mandate Agreement between the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Development and University of Windsor outlines the role the University currently performs in Ontario’s postsecondary education system and how it will build on its current strengths to achieve its vision and help drive system-wide objectives and government priorities.

The Strategic Mandate Agreement (SMA):

• Identifies and explains the shared objectives and priorities between the Ontario government and the University
• Outlines current and future areas of program strength
• Supports the current vision, mission, and mandate of the University and established areas of strength within the context of the University’s governing legislation
• Describes the agreed-upon elements of the new university funding model, including:
  • a University’s enrolment plans as well as their projections of their enrolments relative to their corridor midpoint and any desired changes to their corridor during the period of this SMA; and
  • differentiation areas of focus including metrics and targets
• Provides information on the financial sustainability of the institution; and
• Informs Ministry decision-making and enables the Ministry to align its policies and processes to further support the University’s areas of strength

The term of the SMA is from April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2020.

The agreement may be amended in the event of substantive policy or program changes that would significantly affect joint commitments made in the SMA (e.g. Major Capacity Expansion, Highly Skilled Workforce, etc.). Any such amendment would be mutually agreed to in writing, dated, and signed by both signatories.

Ontario’s Vision for Postsecondary Education

Ontario’s colleges and universities will drive creativity, innovation, knowledge, skills development and community engagement through teaching and learning, research, and service.

Ontario’s colleges and universities will put students first by providing the best possible learning experience for all qualified learners in an affordable and financially sustainable way, ensuring high quality and globally competitive outcomes for students and Ontario’s economy.

University of Windsor Vision, Mission and Mandate

The University of Windsor’s Mission and Vision statements are embedded within our Strategic Plan, Thinking Forward… Taking Action, and reflect the commitment of the University to students and to our community, and the desire that what we do will prepare people to contribute meaningfully to society. They also align directly with the future aspirations for our University, and in broad measure they capture the priorities of the Province of Ontario.

Mission Statement

Enabling people to make a better world through education, scholarship, research, and engagement

Vision Statement

The University of Windsor is a progressive, student-centered university, where the challenges of communities and of a world in transition inform the education we provide, the research we do, and the creative endeavours we pursue

Aspirations

The Ministry recognizes the importance of supporting institutions to evolve and acknowledges the strategic aspirations of its postsecondary education institutions. The SMA is not intended to capture all decisions and issues in the postsecondary education system, as many will be addressed through the Ministry’s policies and standard processes. The Ministry will not be approving any requests for capital funding or new program approvals, for example, through the SMA process.

Institutional Aspirations

The University of Windsor has a history tracing back over 150 years. It has been a part of the lives of more than 115,000 alumni around the world, and has contributed to the well-being of the Windsor-Essex region and of Canada. From its roots as Assumption College in 1857, continuing through today in affiliation with Assumption University, Canterbury College and Iona College, it combines tradition with a commitment to the future.

Universities must contribute to the betterment of society. They have a responsibility through education and enquiry to encourage minds to be creative and entrepreneurial and to help communities be vibrant and sustainable. The expectations placed on universities are high, the mobility of people and ideas is accelerating in pace and is global in breadth, and greater competition for resources to support public institutions is an economic fact of life. The University of Windsor must preserve an unwavering commitment to academic excellence and to helping people, and it must use the talents of its people to adapt in distinctive ways to the realities it faces.

Our University is helping more than 15,000 students a year from nearby and from around the world to achieve personal and professional goals. It is a place with a commitment to learning and discovery, and a commitment to social justice and all of the expectations and opportunities that come with it – access to education, recognition of the importance of community, and a belief in the entrepreneurial spirit that has been vital to the economy in this region of our country. The Mission Statement in the University of Windsor’s Strategic Plan is in reality a statement about the University’s reason for being.

The University of Windsor has a long history of seeking ways in which endeavours of the mind reflect the road that we as a society must travel. Aligned with this reality, the University of Windsor is committed to creating learning environments where students can gain experience that will prepare them for life after graduation. We are big enough to have the programs and services that students want and need, and small enough to feel like a community with close ties and common interests and opportunities for students to be engaged.

Through education and scholarship in the sciences, human kinetics, arts, humanities, social sciences and performing arts, and in professional programs in law, education, nursing, engineering and business, the University has enriched our region and the world. It has helped to create a stronger community around us, added to our knowledge of the environment, helped industries succeed, strengthened the arts, helped us understand the complexities of a world that is rapidly changing, and done much more. And in tying them all together, our University’s Strategic Plan makes a commitment that we will be a place that encourages pursuit of the personal best, whether in a laboratory, library, classroom, athletic stadium, or other place of high endeavour. The University of Windsor aspires to see everyone fulfill the promise within themselves.

The University sits at the edge of Canada, in the heart of North America. By being on the edge, it offers a distinct vantage point from which to engage in global transitions that affect people’s lives. By encouraging international participation and community engagement, and through a commitment to equity, diversity and human rights, the University captures the energy of societal changes and a spirit of social activism that this breadth of human capacity creates. Our campus and our community of Windsor-Essex have a long history of welcoming people from around the world, making us one of the most culturally diverse locations in the country.

The University of Windsor is a fully comprehensive university that offers a broad range of academic and professional programs that are needed for the economic and cultural vibrancy of Windsor-Essex, which is Ontario’s unique geographic peninsula within the United States. It is a region that has enormous economic importance in manufacturing, agriculture, the arts, tourism, health care, and more. Because of our location, we are also a university that is dedicating itself to issues of great importance - taking care of our Great Lakes, doing work that informs how to better move people and goods across international borders, contributing knowledge and innovation to what is still the manufacturing heartland of North America, and demonstrating in countless ways how the knowledge and creativity of a university can help deepen the appreciation of culture and aesthetics in a community.

This is what the University of Windsor is about and that is what we want to be. We know that a university is less likely to be relevant in the world if it is not relevant in the neighbourhood, and that it is less likely to be relevant in the neighbourhood if it does not bring a perspective that is globally informed. There is not another university in Ontario like ours. The University of Windsor’s comprehensive nature in a unique location is not a luxury that comes at a cost. Rather, it is a necessity that comes with a prize…that prize being an academic institution that is dedicated to ensuring that this region of Ontario has a university that is doing everything a university is supposed to do for a 21^st century globally connected Ontario.

Shared Objectives and Priorities for Differentiation

Student Experience

This section captures institutional strengths in improving student experience, outcomes and success. This section recognizes institutions for measuring the broader learning environment, such as continuity of learning pathways; retention; student satisfaction; co-curricular activities and records; career preparedness; and student services and supports.

Institutional approach to improving student experience

The University of Windsor is committed to providing an excellent education that prepares students for life after graduation. We know that we must do several things if we are to fulfill this commitment. First, through continual academic program innovation we seek to integrate into the learning process a workplace or community-based opportunity that provides experience, mentorship, and maximum value to the degree earned as a student seeks to successfully enter the workplace. Second, we are committed to having campus learning and social spaces that support innovation in teaching and learning, collaboration, partnerships, and community engagement. Third, we are placing a strong emphasis on student services that promote health and wellness.

The University of Windsor is distinctive in its location, its comprehensive program offerings, its research strengths that serve the needs of the community and the province, and its attraction as a destination for international students looking to study in Ontario and possibly make it their home. We can further strengthen this distinctiveness by ensuring that we pay attention to our programs, our spaces, and our services.

Examples of institutional initiatives

Academic Program Innovation

The University of Windsor is unique in terms of its geographic location on the US border and the wide spectrum of professional and academic programs that have served the region for decades. Almost 50 % of our full-time undergraduates are in accredited professional programs with direct workplace training, such as Law, Business, Education, Social Work, Clinical Psychology, and Nursing. With these realities, there has been a long history of program innovation, including work-integrated learning. In all Faculties – professional and academic – there is a commitment to giving students an opportunity to see where their education can take them. There is an increasing number of programs and services at the institutional level to complement what is happening within the Faculties, and they combine to create multiple opportunities and supports for students:

• Career preparation opportunities exist in most other disciplines across campus, including such opportunities as the hands-on publishing practica in English Language, Literature and Creative Writing; internships in fine arts and public history; and the Faculty of Science Career Week focusing on soft skills, goal setting, and self-promotion strategies.
• The Enactus program run through the Odette School of Business has students working with community partners to help new businesses start and thrive.
• Two anti-poverty law clinics and two cross-border clinics for Windsor’s Faculty of Law provide hands-on opportunities to develop legal skills.
• Numerous graduate programs, including Kinesiology, Political Science, Education, Computer Science, Engineering, Social Work, and Psychology, incorporate work-integrated learning internships or practica.
• In 2015-16, UWindsor created a new service unit that brought together into a new highly visible centralized location all of the staff and programs focused on enhancing career preparation, mentorship, reflection and documentation. Named the Co-op, Career and Employment Services unit, this re-designed organization emphasizes collaboration with academic units to provide experiential and career development education for every student, and has resulted in the following:
• 46 % increase in student utilization of services
• 126 % increase in internship engagement
• 28 % increase in co-op enrolment
• beginning the development of "experience maps” for most major academic programs, and an environmental scan of experiential learning opportunities at the University.
• placement of nearly 1,000 students with more than 650 employers annually.
• The Entrepreneurship Practice and Innovation Centre (EPICentre) provides students and recent graduates with opportunities to learn about entrepreneurship, and the resources to turn their ideas into successful ventures. Six EPICentre facilities across campus provide dedicated space for discipline-specific innovation and venture development. The Centre offers integrated cross-campus leadership, mentorship, entrepreneurial education, and technology-transfer. Students in upper-year business consulting courses act as mentors to community members and peers establishing new businesses. Community mentors dedicate their time to helping student start-ups succeed. The EPICentre works with a wide range of business and community organizations in Windsor and Detroit, including the Royal Bank of Canada, which underwrote the RBC Epic Founders program and the RBC Business Model Competition through an $800,000 donation.

Campus Transformation

In 2011, the University embarked on a campus transformation plan in support of its strategic objectives to enhance the student experience, support the community and region, and recruit and retain the best faculty and staff. Financial support for what has been a major renewal of campus facilities has come from the City of Windsor and from both provincial and federal levels of government, as well as the University, student athletics levies, and private donors.

One of the central goals of this plan has been to create spaces that best support a student experience that is relevant to the education pathway being pursued. We are developing a campus in the heart of the city for our programs in Social Work, Executive Education, and the Creative Arts because that is where many of the organizations and communities of interest are located. Our Social Work students support community housing projects in the city centre, and we have now entered into a formal partnership with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra which is housed adjacent to our new location downtown. The downtown campus also is providing a major economic development boost for the city. On the main campus, our new Ed Lumley Centre for Engineering Innovation was designed to include within it an industrial courtyard where companies can be engaged with our students. We closed a major traffic thoroughfare that ran through the campus, creating a new pedestrianized pathway that we have named Turtle Island Walk in recognition of First Nations. These and other projects are reinforcing the commitment of the University of Windsor to our students and their future:

Other projects completed or in progress

• New wing of Odette School of Business, providing classrooms and space for community engagement events
• Completion of new floor of Medical Education Building, providing clinical training space where University of Windsor nursing students and Schulich medical students can train alongside each other
• David A. Wilson Commons with outdoor gathering spaces and basketball court
• Parking garage which has enabled the closing and greening of surface lots
• Joyce Entrepreneurship Centre which houses the Career and Employment Services Centre, the Cross-Border Institute and EPICentre, our new centre for student entrepreneurs
• Stephen and Vicki Adams Welcome Centre, providing a new and highly visible location for Student Recruitment and Alumni Affairs offices
• Science Research and Innovation Facility opening Spring, 2018

Projects in planning stages

• Lancer Sport and Recreation Centre, a major upgrading of athletics facilities
• Consolidated student services hub for all registrarial and financial services

Projects proposed but yet to be finalized

• Possible relocation of the Law School to the downtown campus, and with it the consolidation of legal education, legal aid clinics, intellectual property clinic, and other legal services the Law School provides to the community into one hub in close proximity to the courts and the Windsor-Detroit tunnel. This location would provide ready access to the University of Detroit Mercy Law School which is the University of Windsor’s partner in North America’s only three year Dual Juris Doctor Program, that enables graduates to practice in Canada or the US

Student Services

Under a newly established Associate Vice-President, Student Experience, UWindsor has further strengthened its student services programs and increased access to counselling services. Many of the programs engage community partners, including the Multicultural Council of Windsor and Essex County, the Canadian Mental Health Association, the Sexual Assault Crisis Centre, sports and recreation organizations, and others. Among the many programs and initiatives underway are the following:

• In 2014, the University approved a Behavioural Intervention Plan operationalized by the Assessment and Care Team (ACT) to assist students in crisis. Trained in threat assessment and behavioural intervention strategies, the ACT provides support and problem resolution for at-risk students.
• The recently launched online Well Track program enables students to develop coping skills for anxiety, depression, phobias and stress.
• A new training program has enhanced faculty and staff capacity and expertise in responding to students who have experienced sexual violence.
• A new Steering Committee for UWindsor Student Mental Health, with broad campus representation, is developing a comprehensive Student Mental Health strategy.
• The University of Windsor is recognized nationally and internationally as a leader in establishing sexual violence prevention programs (Senn et al., New England Journal of Medicine 372(24), 2326-2335; Globe and Mail, October 31, 2014). Since 2010, students at the University have been engaged as participants and facilitators in the University of Windsor Bystander initiative, which seeks to lower the incidence of sexual assault through systematic student engagement in culture change. Two undergraduate courses teach male and female students from all faculties about sexual assault and the social psychology of bystander behavior (Course 1), and prepare students to deliver the Bringing in the Bystander® workshops, under supervision, to other students (Course 2). The workshop program reaches approximately 1,500 students as well as all residence staff and orientation volunteers annually. In the fall of 2018, training under the Bystander Initiative will be available to every incoming first-year student.
• These initiatives are integrated within an overall strategy for campus sexual security, coordinated through the efforts of the newly created position of Sexual Misconduct Response and Prevention Officer. The Officer is helping to implement the University of Windsor’s new Policy on Sexual Misconduct, and acts as a central point of contact for all UWindsor community members who have concerns related to sexual misconduct.
• The University funded a multi-year initiative to encourage international student participation in fitness and sports activities such as cricket tournaments and gender-separate fitness classes, geared towards the interests and needs of international students.
• The University also supports a range of sustainability initiatives that contribute to healthy lifes on campus, including a curriculum-integrated community organic garden, a bicycle-sharing program, and a weekly farmers’ market, providing student access to locally grown and organic products. Reduction of car traffic on campus has significantly enhanced safety.

Metrics and targets

Innovation in Teaching and Learning Excellence

This section focuses on innovative efforts including pedagogical approaches, program delivery and student services that contribute to a highly skilled workforce and ensure positive student outcomes.

This section captures institutional strengths in delivering high-quality learning experiences, such as experiential, entrepreneurial, personalized and digital learning, to prepare students for rewarding careers. It includes recognition of student competencies that improve employability.

It begins to identify indicators of quality that are currently available and within an institution’s control.

Institutional approach to innovation in teaching and learning excellence

One of the University of Windsor’s defining features is the breadth of professional and academic programs that it offers for the region. With that breadth comes a palette of approaches for teaching and for exposing students to work-related experiences. The University of Windsor strongly supports teaching innovation and pedagogical improvement across all disciplines and programs. Without question, there is increasing institutional momentum for excellence, innovation, and leadership in teaching and learning, including experiential learning and high-impact practices.

The University of Windsor uses a diversity of teaching approaches in response to evolving student and public expectations and technological change. The campus is one of the most diverse in Ontario, as is the community and region. We understand that innovation in teaching and learning must operate within diverse cultures and among a diverse and highly internationalized student body. The University is distinctive in how it combines its great regional importance with an international perspective that derives from the community and from the close to 20 % of the student body that is international. Teaching and learning, and how they foster community integration, are very important to the University.

Examples of institutional initiatives

Experiential Learning and High-Impact Practices

Experiential learning and high-impact practices are available across all disciplines at the University of Windsor. The most recent National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) data indicates that 52 % of our fourth-year students took part in or planned to take part in a course involving service learning, compared to 45 % at other Ontario institutions. These include community- and industry-based projects, entrepreneurial mentorship programs, course-embedded and co-curricular peer mentorship, and health and social policy educational initiatives. Among the opportunities we offer are the following:

• In the Odette School of Business, students in Management and Organizational Life (MOL) work with community organizations to develop projects that respond to challenges facing the organization, and raise funds through a variety of activities for those organizations. Since its inception, MOL students have contributed thousands of volunteer hours to over 85 agencies, raising more than $1 million in the process.
• For over a decade, the School of Social Work’s Community-University Partnership for Community Development, Training and Research has partnered with the Windsor-Essex Community Housing Corporation, the City of Windsor, and numerous community agencies to enable residents of many inner-city and low-income housing communities to access skill development opportunities and services as they seek to improve their lives and neighbourhoods. Students from Social Work, Nursing, Business, and Law work with community members to adapt and create new approaches to a range of challenges. This program, which received the Excellence in Sustainable Education Award from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and the Campus Community Partnership for Health Annual Award, has had a significant impact on community engagement, health, and wellness in the communities involved.
• In addition to their regular practica, students in the Faculty of Education must undertake a service learning course. There are a wide variety, from the urban education MILE program, to Beginning Times Teaching, which focuses on Indigenous communities and cultures, to international placements through the Faculty’s Global Learning program. Many of these programs promote sustainability and the social justice focus of the Faculty of Education.
• Students in the University of Windsor’s Volunteer Internship Program, a community-service learning program, provided over 9,000 hours of volunteer service in more than 300 placements.
• Approximately one fifth of undergraduate students are engaged in a research project, and in 2014-15 the University of Windsor launched an institution-wide Undergraduate Research Conference.
• The institutionally funded Undergraduate Research Experience Grants program enables instructors to apply for funds to launch programs that involve students in pursuing their own research.
• Science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) students enhance their employability through community-based initiatives that integrate organizational, leadership, communication and interpersonal skills with the pursuit and transfer of scientific knowledge. Researchers help students connect their pursuit of scientific knowledge with the societal need for this knowledge: students pursue research in mentored settings, but are also deeply engaged with community-based fundraising and outreach. Such projects bring together teams of local researchers, professionals, community partners and students.
• Students are engaged with publication through student research journals such as the Windsor Review of Legal and Social Issues, Generation, Windsor Salt, and the Great Lakes Journal of Undergraduate History, as well as through a number of digital initiatives supported by the Centre for Digital Scholarship.
• The School of Dramatic Art provides experiential learning to close to 300 students a year, with training in performance, production, design and theatre administration.
• International exchange opportunities are both local and global at the University of Windsor:
• Locally, the Faculty of Law’s Dual JD program and the School of Creative Arts’ Visual Arts and the Built Environment program, in collaboration with the University of Detroit Mercy Law and Architecture programs, respectively, offer unique professionally accredited educational opportunities across the local border and broaden career options.
• Globally, the "Global Learning: Cultural Engagement” course option in the Faculty of Education, open to all teacher candidates, extends opportunities for community engagement and service learning placements or practica in China, Tanzania and the United Kingdom.
• The recently launched Global Perspectives of Science course is home to study-abroad programs in the Faculty of Science, which saw 15 students undertaking undergraduate research in Costa Rica in May 2017.
• Programs such as the International Master’s in Automotive Engineering enable students to earn degrees in both Canada and Italy, and a unique Windsor exchange program enables Canadian, Swedish and Australian nursing students to study health care internationally.

Innovative, Technology-Enabled Learning at the University of Windsor

The University of Windsor has a significant mandate to serve the needs of southwest Ontario, and it is committed to making its offerings as accessible as possible to meet the wide range of learning needs of young people, and of mature learners who might already be in the workforce. The Office of Open Learning (OOL) was established in 2013. In collaboration with both the Centre for Teaching and Learning and Information Technology Services, it provides inspiration, expertise, and technical and pedagogical support for technology-enabled learning initiatives.

Teaching and learning innovation are hard-wired into the University of Windsor. They represent an essential part of how the University is fulfilling its strategic mandate to create education pathways that prepare students for future employment and civic engagement. There are multiple work-integrated learning opportunities and multiple opportunities for a wide range of learning opportunities outside of the classroom. Not only does this make for a better student experience, but it also makes a significant contribution to the economic and cultural life of Windsor-Essex. Some of the innovative practices underway include:

• Over 100 courses and nine complete programs have been developed or are being developed for on-line or hybrid course delivery, and $4.4 million in external funding has been acquired, placing Windsor in the top three funding recipients through eCampus Ontario since 2014.
• New educational development programs now offer instructors multiple avenues for engagement with educational development, including intensive Online Course Design Institutes for faculty developing online and hybrid courses; situated training and support at the departmental and faculty levels; individual consultations; and a Community of Practice for Online Course Development.
• The OOL has developed an increasingly popular on-demand hybrid delivery model that combines on-campus instruction and live online instruction, allowing students at a distance to interact in real time with on-campus classmates and instructors through most web-enabled devices. Students choose the level of hybridization they need, offering maximum flexibility for students and instructors.
• There are now 11,000 registrations for courses in e-learning formats.
• Technologically enabled innovations supported include Blackboard Learn Learning Management System, Blackboard Collaborate and Collaborate Ultra virtual classroom, Echo360 student engagement and lecture capturing platform, WordPress ePortfolios, BVirtual Online Proctoring Service, Blackboard Outcomes and Learning Analytics packages, Epson Brightlink smart projectors, lightboard, and virtual/augmented Reality.
• Simulation technologies that create real-world situations play key roles in a number of professional schools. The Faculty of Nursing is a leader in the adoption and expansion of case-based education employing mechanical simulated patients. Nurses graduate from this program familiar with a broad range of life-saving equipment, reducing healthcare costs for bridging training, and also allowing for exposure to clinical training in areas otherwise unavailable owing to limited clinical placement settings. Their fully equipped "Sim Lab” is in constant use by both medical and nursing students. Similarly, the Odette Financial Markets Lab’s market simulations and live Bloomberg data feeds enable students to bridge the gap between the theory they learn in the classroom and the practices of the real business world. The University’s Forensics program is the only one in Canada using the Forensics Virtual Lab for teaching, internship and research purposes. The vendor of this software recognizes the University of Windsor as the only university in Canada that has integrated into its teaching program this industry-level tool used by police departments and forensic professionals to simulate forensic crime scenes.

As a flagship demonstration of the University of Windsor’s commitment to teaching and learning, we have created fifty new full-time faculty positions to be filled over the period of 2015-18. The new faculty are being recruited into areas identified as being institutional strengths that build on the University of Windsor’s distinctive role in the province as defined in our first Strategic Mandate Agreement (SMA1). This commitment to the next generation of innovative faculty reinforces our commitment to conduct teaching, research and creative activity that addresses society’s needs and that aligns with the province’s aspirations to see southwest Ontario flourish. It will also help the University of Windsor attract bright minds from around the world to come to this province to study, and possibly eventually work.

The University of Windsor’s Centre for Teaching and Learning has been at the forefront of teaching innovation in Ontario. Over the years it has worked with faculty and staff across the campus to foster high-quality teaching and learning that is informed by extensive research on best practices. The University strives for pedagogical innovation through effective knowledge management and exchange, support for faculty innovation and learning, recognition of effective and innovative teaching, improved access to data for teaching improvement, and sustained, multi-level leadership in support of teaching and learning.

• In 2015-16, nearly half of all faculty members participated in workshops and courses offered through the Centre for Teaching and Learning.
• The University established a teaching leadership chair program, in which professors focus their service and research, for a three-year period, on leading and supporting teaching and curricular initiatives in their faculties and across campus. Their collective and collaborative efforts significantly influence faculty engagement with innovation.
• The Promotion of Experiential and Active, Research-Based Learning (PEARL) speaker series focuses on STEM pedagogies and is creating a more visible cohort of teaching leaders in the Science faculty.
• The University established a Centered on Learning Innovation Fund, a grants program promoting pedagogical research and innovation synchronized with identified institutional priorities, and over the past seven years the University’s Strategic Priority Fund has invested more than $8.5 million in faculty-led pedagogical, curricular, and co-curricular innovation.
• We offer an inter-institutional forum on effective teaching evaluation co-led by administrators, faculty and staff, and ensure that teaching evaluation is a key part of evaluation for promotion and tenure.
• The University promotes effective teaching through a range of teaching awards, which since 2010 expanded significantly at the faculty and institutional levels. An annual celebration of teaching excellence, now in its 11^th year, draws hundreds of participants. Faculty instructional excellence is also recognized through a highly active and successful mentorship program supporting external teaching award submissions. For example, since 2007, the University of Windsor is second only to the University of Toronto in the number of Ontario Confederation of University Faculty Associations teaching awards received, and University of Windsor faculty members have been recipients of numerous national and international teaching awards.
• Over the past two years, the University established working groups to explore the future of university curricula and review the state of learning outcomes-based approaches on campus. The institution also undertook a series of community consultations with employers and community members regarding the future of Windsor-Essex and the University’s role in the region.

Metrics and targets

Access and Equity

This section recognizes institutions for their efforts in improving postsecondary education equity and access. Institutions play an important role in providing equitable and inclusive environments that make it possible for students from diverse communities to thrive and succeed.

Institutions will also be recognized for creating equitable access opportunities that can include multiple entrance pathways and flexible policies and programming, with the focus on students who, without interventions and support, would not otherwise participate in postsecondary education. Examples include outreach to marginalized youth, transition, bridging and access programs for adults with atypical education histories and who do not meet admission requirements.

Institutional approach to improving access and equity

The University of Windsor’s student population is among the most diverse in Ontario, reflecting the city’s own status as the fourth most diverse city in the Province (www.ontarioimmigration.ca). Approximately 27 % of the city’s population are newcomers. Historically, the city and region experience economic cycles, and opportunity, affordability, and student debt are acutely important to families in the region. For many, the University of Windsor offers the first and best opportunity to obtain a high-quality university education, while reducing costs by living at home. Close to 70 % of incoming first year students are from Windsor-Essex and surrounding regions, and there is no other university in this part of the province. Not only is the University of Windsor critical to contributing the necessary regional base of skills and expertise, it is important to retaining and attracting young people to the region.

The University of Windsor has embraced educational access and equity as core values. Close to 80 % of students cite financial pressures as an obstacle to success. Just over two-thirds of Windsor’s students participate in the Ontario Student Assistance Plan (OSAP). In 2014, 57 % of our fourth-year students indicated they were managing part-time employment on top of their course load, which is significantly more than the Ontario rate of 47 %. We use early intervention review processes to identify and support students experiencing financial hardship so that bursary and OSAP reviews can be initiated early in the academic year as required.

Over 18 % of our student population – 10 % at the undergraduate level and 57 % at the graduate level - is international, and approximately 20 % of our students self-declare as first generation. Over the years, we have developed significant expertise in supporting students who speak English as an additional language, and in assisting those from first-generation and under-represented populations. As well, international students and students of diverse backgrounds benefit greatly from the many cultural organizations in the city and region. The Multicultural Council of Windsor-Essex represents a broad diversity of populations in the city, and no matter where in the world you come from there is a community to welcome you.

Examples of institutional initiatives

Increasing Opportunities for Access

The University of Windsor supports a number of programs aimed at encouraging young people from all walks of life to consider university, and at assisting them to succeed in their academic programs. Outreach programs designed to promote accessibility to university education span many areas of the campus, and are growing.

The University of Windsor also recognizes that embarking upon university life can be particularly challenging for first-generation learners and others who want to earn a degree but who may find post-secondary education to be somewhat daunting. In response to that we have designed many programs that help students transition to university life, and help students succeed. Many of these programs build upon the University’s commitment to academic advising and mentoring as being key to creating better outcomes for students. These programs try to build upon the uniqueness of the professional or academic discipline being pursued, and in doing so also lay important groundwork for making new students more aware of what their career options are. Examples include:

• The Diaspora Conference, established in 2004, brings African Canadian secondary school students on campus for a weekend to learn about the university experience. Each year hundreds of students from Toronto, Windsor, and now Detroit, attend to participate in discussions of their common African heritage, and their life and career aspirations.
• The Odette High School Leadership Initiative is a five-day program run by graduate and undergraduate students from the Odette School of Business. Since its inception in winter 2013, it has expanded to seven local schools, three Detroit schools, and one Halton Region school. The program is supported through a partnership with KPMG, and engaged 500 students in its first year of operation.
• Youthrive is a 10-week program implemented in high schools, offering students one-on-one mentorship to instill business, entrepreneurship and leadership skills as the students develop real micro-businesses.
• The University of Windsor has an active Let’s Talk Science program through which undergraduate students present science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) learning experiences in both school and community settings. The Faculty of Science has a range of community programs aimed at inspiring youth interest in science, including the Science Rendezvous Festival and Science at the Mall. The School of Computer Science also runs a Secondary School Programming Competition.
• In the LEAD program, a service learning course in the Faculty of Education in partnership with two local school boards, Ed. students focus on mentoring and creating service learning projects with teachers and at-risk students to enhance the student experience and inspire students to set life goals.
• Through the new President’s Indigenous Peoples Scholars Program, the University of Windsor will allocate five tenure-track faculty positions for the appointment of Aboriginal scholars across a range of disciplines, with the goal of increasing the strength and diversity of Indigenous voices and of dialogue about indigeneity on the University of Windsor campus.
• A number of initiatives are currently underway to promote access to university education for Indigenous students. The 4 Winds STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) and Beginning Time Teaching Project is geared towards First Nations, Métis, and Inuit (FNMI) youth in grades 5 and 6. Workshops, which involve online support, in-classroom presentations, and Saturday workshops, address Ontario curriculum expectations, while making strong connections to FNMI culture. Through the Turtle Island Summer Arts Camp, elementary students take part in various Aboriginal art activities.
• In collaboration with other Ontario universities, the University of Windsor is implementing the Walls to Bridges (W2B) program. W2B reaches a segment of the community that otherwise might be lost in the educational process: those who are or have been incarcerated. Courses are taught in prisons and community correctional settings, allowing for access to higher education as well as more flexible learning opportunities.

Mentoring within the context of the academic program being pursued is one of the most effective ways of helping new students succeed. It connects students academically as well as socially to their peers, and helps to reinforce how success at anything is made easier when people work together. Many of our most successful programs are also greatly assisted by students who volunteer to help others. There is a truly remarkable spirit of volunteerism and helping others among the student body at the University of Windsor.

• There are many peer mentorship programs, including the Connecting4Success Mentorship Program offering one-on-one support to first-generation students through workshops, wellness sessions, academic help, and social events; the Kin-One Experience in which mentors help first-year Human Kinetics students transition to university, connect with other students, and generally "become a member of the HK family”; the Odette HOUSE program in the Odette School of Business places all first-year majors with a "house” or cohort and a trained upper-year mentor who supports their skill development and involvement with the academic, social and career elements of their programming; the Faculty of Law Peer Mentorship program helps to ease the transition for first-year Law students who share similar academic and social interests; the Nursing Peer Mentor Program offers peer-mentor facilitated lab skill practice.
• The Windsor chapter of Students Offering Support (SOS) provides hundreds of hours of voluntary tutorial and Exam-AID review sessions, combining fun with serious learning.
• The Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences’ Academic Advising Initiative involves proactive developmental and soon-to-be established online advising in collaboration with Student Disability Services and the Office of Open Learning, focusing on the needs of first-year students, students on academic probation, and students with disabilities.
• The Fresh Start Program offers an alternative path to students who have completed their first year and who are at risk of being asked to withdraw because of poor academic achievement. Fresh Start students commit to a restricted course load, controlled course choice, and ongoing academic advising.
• The Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences’ Discovery Program helps students who have not yet declared a major to connect, develop the skills for success, and identify an area of study that matches their skills, interests, and goals.
• The Faculty of Science PASS program (Preparation for Academic Success in Science) is a retention program intended to prepare students to be successful in Science, offered before they start classes during Welcome Week.
• The Bounce Back program matches first-year students with trained upper-year student mentors who work one-on-one with students to help them address what led to academic hardship in first semester.

Metrics and expected values

Research Excellence and Impact

This section captures institutional strengths in producing high-quality research on the continuum of fundamental and applied research through activity that further raises Ontario’s profile as a globally recognized research and innovation hub. It also acknowledges that research capacity is strongly linked with graduate education.

Institutional approach to research excellence and impact

When the University of Windsor set out to develop a strategic research plan, it took an approach that is consistent with its historical importance to and deep connections to the region, and consistent with its commitment to contribute to a better world. Rather than the starting point for our research plan being an itemization of the many areas of research and creative expertise and the work underway, we developed a plan that commits us to addressing big challenges that face our region. In addressing those challenges we are doing work that has a local and provincial impact, but which  also has a far wider reach in the world because progress on those challenges can have  far-reaching implications and applications elsewhere.

The University of Windsor’s strategic research plan identifies four challenges. They are 1) the health of the Great Lakes; 2) the challenges of borders and how people and goods move across them; 3) sustainable industry, including auto manufacturing; and 4) creating viable, healthy and safe communities. These challenges are all highly relevant to the region, given its unique geographic location in a manufacturing cluster on the Great Lakes and at the busiest and economically most important border crossing in North America. These four challenges are also relevant to the future of our province and country. There is not another university that can so distinctly be identified with these four challenges.

The University of Windsor is committed to the cross-transfer of knowledge, technology, and expertise among academia, industry, and the community. It seeks to cultivate solid, lasting, and fruitful collaborative relationships with strategic institutional, government, and industry stakeholders, including international and federal government organizations; provincial agencies, ministries, and organizations; and government and non-government organizations at the municipal and regional levels. We have also established a significant track record of success in building and maintaining ongoing collaborative partnerships with private industry, as well as with not-for-profit organizations that make a big difference to the fabric of our community. Collaborative partnerships and working with stakeholders are key to the University’s success.

The range of organizations that support the research and creative activity at the University of Windsor is extensive. Government funding bodies include the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), Canadian Cancer Society, Mitacs, Networks of Centres of Excellence, Canada Council for the Arts, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Ontario Centres of Excellence, Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, Ontario Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, Law Foundation of Ontario and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. Key industrial funding partners include FCA (Fiat Chrysler Automobiles), Ford and General Motors. The Automotive Research and Development Centre (ARDC) in Windsor is a partnership between the University of Windsor and FCA, and is the largest collaboratively owned automotive research centre in Canada. More than five hundred University of Windsor co-op students have worked at ARDC since it opened in 1996. Other key funding partners include a wide range of local organizations, including the Windsor Detroit Bridge Authority which has responsibility for overseeing construction of the new Gordie Howe international crossing, and the cancer charity Seeds4Hope.

Examples of institutional initiatives

Safeguarding Healthy Great Lakes

The Laurentian Great Lakes hold nearly 85 % of North America’s surface freshwater. The dynamic ecosystem that relies on them supports more than 3,500 species of plants and animals, over 35 million people, and a multi-billion dollar economy. The continued viability of this critical natural resource is being threatened by increasing agricultural intensification, climate change, invasive species, and population growth. Situated on the Detroit River between Lake Erie and Lake Huron, the University of Windsor’s close proximity to these vast bodies of freshwater has uniquely positioned the University of Windsor to take the lead in safeguarding the health of the Great Lakes through research that provides science-based solutions to the most pressing socio-ecological challenges facing the Great Lakes today.

• The University of Windsor is home to the Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research (GLIER), an internationally recognized research centre focused on providing real-world solutions to acute and serious pressures faced by the Great Lakes. At GLIER, a growing body of core, cross-appointed, and multidisciplinary researchers from diverse University of Windsor departments, including Biology, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Computer Science, Chemistry and Biochemistry, Sociology, and Earth and Environmental Science, dedicate themselves to advancing and communicating fundamental knowledge of Great Lakes science; understanding and helping to develop policies and regulations to safeguard the Great Lakes; developing technologies to improve water quality and biota health; mitigating and adapting to the effects of natural and societal impacts on the Great Lakes; and developing remediation efforts in the Great Lakes region and beyond.
• At GLIER, with its researchers and advanced instrumentation, students are provided with a unique opportunity to develop research methods and processes needed to protect, conserve, and manage the Great Lakes. GLIER is training highly qualified personnel who will become next-generation scholars and policy makers capable of engaging in productive dialogue and consultation on the science of ecosystem function, conservation, management, and protection of the Great Lakes environmental resources.
• University of Windsor research in safeguarding healthy Great Lakes is further bolstered by collaborative research partnerships within academia and with the community, with government and non-government organizations, and with industry stakeholders at the local, regional, provincial, national and international levels. These collaborative relationships have led to a number of highly successful, large-scale scientific research initiatives that have contributed directly to the advancement of Great Lakes science and innovation and the implementation of much-needed solutions to pivotal challenges to the sustained environmental efficacy of our aquatic freshwater resources.

Fostering Sustainable Industry

The University of Windsor is located within a 100-kilometer radius of one of the highest concentrations of manufacturing in North America, including the auto industries original equipment manufacturers and tier-one suppliers in North America. Given its geographic proximity to top automotive manufacturers and suppliers, the University of Windsor established itself early on as a leader in automotive research and has long been recognized for its significant contributions to innovation in the automotive industry. Many industries have facilities on both sides of the border, making Windsor a true border city. At the same time, because of the border and the reliance on cross-border relations, Windsor-Essex also sits at the epicenter of global economic forces, whether they be headwinds or tailwinds. When the global economy suffers, Windsor suffers more than many places in Canada because of its sensitivity to swings in manufacturing and trade. When the global economy is strong, Windsor responds positively. The University’s role in education and research has always been to help buffer those swings, and for that reason it has had a long-standing commitment to helping manufacturers and other industries in this region:

• Since its inception, the University of Windsor has worked to develop and maintain strong collaborative relationships with our region’s automotive stakeholders, including FCA, Ford, General Motors, and a broad range of automotive parts manufacturers.
• University of Windsor research has resulted in important innovations in automotive materials, casting, controls, power trains, acoustic, electric vehicle, and clean combustion engineering.
• The Institute for Diagnostic Imaging Research (IDIR) has developed ultrasonic monitoring technologies and advanced material deposition processes for sustainable energy-efficient manufacturing.
• Research at the University of Windsor reaches far beyond the automotive sector to foster sustainable industry in a broad range of fields including environmental, civil, industrial, and electrical engineering. Our multidisciplinary researchers are providing technical, legal, and business advice to industries on a collaborative basis and working with industry partners, both in-house and off-site, on the development of next-generation ideas and products.
• The University of Windsor is training the highly qualified personnel who will become tomorrow’s social and technological scholars, leaders and entrepreneurs. At the University of Windsor, students engage in hands-on training and research in the state-of-the-art facilities at the Ed Lumley Centre for Engineering Innovation, which has within it an industrial courtyard where companies can set up and work.
• Through the Entrepreneurship, Practice, Innovation Centre (EPICentre), the University of Windsor is fostering sustainable industry by providing a forum and a venue for students and graduates to transition from research to innovation to entrepreneurship. EPICentre hosts more than 60 programs annually, and provides collaborative incubation and innovation space, including three incubators, and mentorship that has helped launch many new and innovative businesses.

Understanding Borders

The University of Windsor is situated on the Detroit River, steps away from the border between Ontario in Canada and Michigan in the United States. The Windsor-Detroit border, the most heavily travelled point of crossing between Canada and the United States, provides a unique perspective from which to observe, study, and understand logistical, economic, societal, human, cultural, political, legal, and trade issues associated with borders and border-crossing. Through collaboration with public and private sector stakeholders, University of Windsor research strives to understand and support the development of policies, regulations, and best practices facilitating border-crossing and the bi-national coordination of environmental and emergency management in border regions. Our researchers are advancing critical knowledge on goods, certifications, regulations, and people, and are actively engaged in the development of science, technology, and engineering that will facilitate safe and secure border-crossings.

In addition to these economic and legal matters related to borders, there are also many activities at the University of Windsor that are looking at cross-border opportunities from the standpoint of human movement and the movement of academic and creative ideas. The University of Windsor’s Law School offers North America’s only three year Dual Juris Doctor program, in partnership with the University of Detroit Mercy Law School. Graduates can practice law in either Canada or the US. Our Visual Arts and the Built Environment program in our School of Creative Arts is also in partnership with the University of Detroit Mercy School of Architecture, and students can pursue either a BFA or an Architecture program. There are a number of other academic linkages on both sides of the border that serve to make the University of Windsor a distinctive portal for Ontario to the US:

• The University of Windsor is home to the Cross-Border Institute (CBI), a centre of excellence in the study and scholarship of borders and border-crossing. At CBI, a growing body of multidisciplinary researchers and students from University of Windsor departments and disciplines, including Political Science, Physics, Computer Science, Computer and Electrical and Civil and Environmental Engineering, Business, Economics, and Law, are engaged in research, instruction, and outreach activities. These are associated with border traffic, delays and congestion, traffic simulation modelling, traffic operation and control, and travel behaviour and demand modelling; sustainable transportation, intelligent transportation systems, transportation and land use interactions, urban transportation planning, and transportation policy; supply chain and trade analysis modelling, freight transportation analysis, and location-allocation modelling; big-data analysis, real-time data acquisition systems, and GIS and spatial analysis; economic impact analysis; cross-border municipal and healthcare services and facilitation of cross-border medical research; and border policy. CBI is frequently consulted by local, provincial and federal bodies dealing with transportation and border issues, and is increasingly recognized internationally, with collaborations in European, Middle Eastern, and Asian countries.
• CBI’s unique Traffic Lab maintains sophisticated software, data, and hardware, including sensing resources that facilitate research that is improving traffic performance between Canada and the United States. Key projects currently underway in CBI’s Traffic Lab include analysis of the Rt. Hon. Herb Gray Parkway and Gordie Howe International Bridge infrastructure and performance of the Windsor-Essex road network; assessing vulnerability, criticality, and resilience in Southern Ontario freight networks; collection and analysis of nation-wide micro-level business establishment commercial vehicle movement data; real-time analysis and simulation and short-term prediction of commercial border crossing times; big data analysis of over 1.5 billion records from GPS transponders in trucks; assessing the potential benefits of increased use of radio frequency identification technologies at border inspection plazas; and development of a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model to assess the full economic impacts of border crossing policies.
• Faculty in the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Criminology have conducted SSHRC- and CIHR-funded research with Canadian newcomers, including research on migrant agricultural workers coming across the US border. They are also looking at the social and economic integration of immigrants, the impact of agency-facilitated settlement, and sexual health issues affecting the African-diasporic population in Windsor.

Building Viable, Healthy, Vibrant and Safe Communities

Across University of Windsor departments and disciplines, research and creative activity of our faculty and students, both undergraduate and graduate, contributes to viable, healthy, vibrant, and safe communities right here in Windsor-Essex, and across our country and beyond. Healthy communities are ones in which everything from health to social services to the arts is valued and supported. Nearly every facet of our diverse campus community is in some way engaged in research and discovery that helps address the challenges of communities in an ever-changing world.

There are many distinctive strengths that the University builds upon in terms of community, but one of the most significant is the diversity of people both at the University of Windsor and across Windsor-Essex, with people from all walks of life and all corners of the world. This diversity is a powerful attribute to the challenge of improving communities. You cannot have a vibrant community in 21^st century Ontario if you are not engaging people of all races and ethnicities, First Nations, diverse sexual orientations, the disabled, immigrants and new Canadians, and people of all cultural and socioeconomic strata. The University of Windsor is applying research and creative activity across all disciplines to contribute to making a stronger community. With our diversity comes the spectrum of perspectives that are necessary.

While the topic of viable, healthy, vibrant and safe communities is one that is identified in our strategic research plan, it is also one in which a wide range of our academic programs play a significant role. Our creation of a campus in downtown Windsor for Social Work and Creative Arts is having an enormous community impact, and the large number of classes that involve work-integrated learning or community engagement are also contributing significantly to the ability of the University to make a difference to the Windsor-Essex community.

The Windsor-Essex region is also one that increasingly is attracting seniors to live here, because of the milder climate and access to the benefits of a large urban centre in the greater Detroit area. There are many University researchers and collaborations that are playing an important role in seniors’ physical and mental health, whether through work in local hospitals on treatment and therapy options, or through programs on campus for rehabilitation through sports and physical activity. Addressing the needs of the aging population in our region is an area in which the University will be playing an increasing role.

• Researchers led by faculty in Psychology and Women’s and Gender Studies are researching ways to prevent sexual assault and mitigate its consequences on university campuses. The Bystander Initiative is working toward a campus that rejects sexually aggressive behavior and empowers students by embedding sexual assault prevention education in course work.
• The University of Windsor is a national leader on research on sexual and other forms of violence against women. The Health Research Centre for the Study of Violence Against Women was established through an Ontario Women’s Health award, bringing together faculty and graduate students with an interest in this important topic. CIHR and SSHRC supported research programs are helping us understand the prevalence of and preventive options for violence against women. The Enhanced Assess, Acknowledge, Act (EAAA) program developed by UWindsor researchers demonstrated a 1-year 50 % reduction in rape and attempted rape with a simultaneous reduction in woman-blaming – impacts not reported for any other intervention. There are now requests from institutions in several world locations who are using, testing, and adapting EAAA in different cultural and institutional contexts.
• The World Health Innovation Network (WIN) led by researchers in the Odette School of Business is partnering with health system stakeholders to source innovation in procurement and medical supply chains, create evidence for value, and develop models for scalability to embed innovative technologies, products, and models of care into health systems.
• Researchers from the School of Creative Arts are emerging as leaders in exciting new fields of expression such as BioArt, which employs live media in the creation of artistic works and provokes thought and important dialogue on human-environment interactions, and the continued health of our natural world.
• Researchers from Education, History, and Political Science are using a major SSHRC Partnership grant for a large-scale initiative that is comparing Canadian and Chinese educational cultural narratives. This work will lead to a better understanding of cross-cultural similarities and differences.
• Researchers from Biology, Nursing, and Chemistry and Biochemistry have built on synergy with clinicians and oncologists from the Windsor Regional Hospital to form the Windsor Cancer Research Group (WCRG). The WCRG is engaged in a number of important research initiatives that are advancing cancer screening, cancer identification and treatment technologies and patient care. Many of these initiatives are supported by Seeds4Hope, a local philanthropic charity that funds high-risk, innovative projects. The WCRG is also a catalyst for discussion about new commercialization opportunities.
• The Institute for Diagnostic Imaging Research (IDIR) in collaboration with the leading Ontario Hospitals develops break-through portable, diagnostic imaging technologies for brain and lung traumas, facilitating timely emergency medical services, especially in remote communities.
• The Sport-Related Concussion Centre (SRCC) performs a dual role as research centre and providing clinical services to UWindsor Varsity Athletes. The SRCC has formed a partnership locally with the Sun Parlour Female Hockey Association, and is in discussion with other minor hockey associations.
• The Centre for Neurobehavioural Science (CNS) is a research partnership with Hotel Dieu Grace Healthcare (HDGH) in which UWindsor has a research facility within HDGH shared by Clinical Neuropsychology and Kinesiology faculty. Research centres on interventions for ADHD, cognitive effects of diabetes, socioemotional consequences of brain injury, and ergonomics of patient transfers by nursing staff.
• Research on animal and interpersonal abuse is leading to discussions with Women’s Shelters and the development of policies that allow women to bring their pets into shelters, thereby helping them leave abusive relationships. Work is also underway on how police respond to calls to intervene in domestic violence, and how community characteristics and social determinants affect the incidence of partner violence. Both of these projects placed in the top 25 entries in the 2017 SSHRC Storyteller competition.
• In/Terminus is a multidisciplinary group of faculty and students exploring the boundaries between media, art, music and the built environment. The Noiseborder Ensemble creates and performs multimedia works across the community and internationally, featuring a combination of acoustic and electronic instruments as well as live processing and mixing of sound and video. Both are recognized as leading avant-garde catalysts for dialogue and creativity in the community, with participants receiving funding from SSHRC and the Canada Council for the Arts.
• The Humanities Research Group (HRG) fosters research across the humanities disciplines through fellowships, seminars, and speakers. The HRG is supported by many in the Windsor-Essex community who value the role it plays in stimulating public discourse on a wide range of topics. Similarly, the Centre for Research in Reasoning, Argumentation, and Rhetoric brings together scholars from diverse disciplines in regular seminars and by publishing their work in its journal Informal Logic.
• The University of Windsor’s Digital History Research Group (DHRG) brings together historians, librarians, and scientists working on sharing historical research with both the scholarly community and the public at large. Many of the projects provide the public with opportunities to see and explore Windsor and Southwestern Ontario’s richly diverse history through the use of new digital tools.

Metrics and targets

Innovation, Economic Development and Community Engagement

This section recognizes the unique role institutions play in contributing to their communities and to economic development, as well as to building dynamic partnerships with business, industry, community members and other colleges and universities. It focuses on regional clusters, customized training, entrepreneurial activities, jobs, community revitalization efforts, international collaborations, students, partnerships with Aboriginal Institutes and a program mix that meets needs locally, regionally and beyond.

Institutional approach to innovation, economic development and community engagement

In all things that the University of Windsor does, it takes the needs of the community very seriously. Throughout all five priorities of the Strategic Mandate Agreement there are examples of our commitment to the community and to the needs and interests of those who live here. With respect to engagement in the context of innovation and economic development, there are some signature steps the University has taken. Foremost among those has been the commitment to establish a campus presence in the city centre. The relocation of our programs in Social Work and Creative Arts not only positions our students closer to organizations that partner with and benefit from what those programs have to offer; it is also providing a major economic boost to the city core, something that has been needed for a long time.

A second inherent distinctive feature of the University of Windsor that is relevant to its role in innovation and economic development is the wide range of professional and academic programs that we offer. With virtually all of the professional programs available at the University, including now the Windsor campus of Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, plus a broad spectrum of academic disciplines, the University of Windsor makes an enormous contribution to the highly skilled workforce of the region. The breadth of programs at the University of Windsor is needed by Windsor-Essex. We have a long history of creating innovative programs needed by the region – we started Canada’s first automotive engineering program, and our new aerospace engineering program is uniquely targeted to support manufacturing, repair and overhaul rather than simply new aerospace vehicle design.

Third, we have begun to create significant capacity to foster new innovation through capacity building and partnerships. The University of Windsor campus now hosts the Windsor-Essex Economic Development Corporation in a dedicated office complex within our new Ed Lumley Centre for Engineering Innovation. WETech Alliance, one of the provincial Regional Innovation Networks, is now also located on campus, within our EPICentre, a new facility that supports students and recent alumni as they develop new companies. Through these kinds of partnerships, the University is increasingly hard-wired into the community organizations dedicated to economic development and innovation. We have also now partnered with St. Clair College to have EPICentre expanded to their campus, in support of entrepreneurial developments at the College.

Fourth, the University of Windsor is in a unique region of Ontario, where economic changes play out dynamically because of the region’s proximity to the border and its highly integrated transnational economy, industrial base, and culture. The diversity that is here, and the large number of international students on campus (close to 20 % of the student body) gives a broad spectrum of understanding of the global context when change occurs and opportunities arise.

We are committed to the translation of academic research into value for society, however that is best done. It is not simply the education of youth, the generation of new start-ups or the creation and licensing of intellectual property, all of which we do. Equally, if not more, important is the broad web of connectivity between the university community and its stakeholders that also is critical to knowledge mobilization. Whether it be advising on an environmental project, discussing a problem with a local manufacturer, offering courses and seminars to companies wanting to get better at navigating the border, or offering legal advice on intellectual property, there is a wide array of collaborations that are not quantitative, but profoundly qualitative.

Examples of institutional initiatives

Community Revitalization in the City Centre

A university must see its relationship with its community as a collaboration driven by shared interests. The University of Windsor saw a great opportunity for students in certain programs to be located in the city centre where there is greater access to community partners, and the City of Windsor recognized the long term economic impact there would be if the University was to establish a presence in the downtown. With this level of commitment,  the University of Windsor embarked on a major step in its history, and undertook a $75 million investment - $10M plus the historic Armouries building were donated by the City of Windsor as evidence of its importance to the community – to create a downtown campus cluster, housing Social Work, the Centre for Executive and Professional Education, and the School of Creative Arts.

• The University of Windsor downtown campus is a key element in the revitalization of the downtown core. Two of the three building projects involve dramatic reconceptualizations of heritage buildings.
• For all academic areas involved, the downtown campus is seen as an important opportunity to create greater synergies with the community. As one example, a formal partnership with the Windsor Symphony Orchestra, located adjacent to the new home for our School of Creative Arts, has been established, which will create opportunities for our music students to perform and rehearse with a professional orchestra, and allow our facilities to be shared with the Symphony Orchestra.
• The downtown campus will eventually see a thousand students, faculty, and staff learning, working, and increasingly living in the downtown core.

Support for Entrepreneurs

Established in 2014, the University of Windsor’s Entrepreneurship, Practice, and Innovation Centre (EPICentre) provides embedded experiential entrepreneurial learning across all disciplines. It creates opportunities for innovative youth ventures through mentor-supported incubation and maker-spaces on campus, and engages with the broader community through integration with regional stakeholders, alumni, and industry. The creation of EPICentre arose from the University of Windsor’s determination to address key socioeconomic challenges identified within the region, including cyclical high local unemployment and the lack of resources that make it challenging for young innovators to pursue their ideas in this part of the province, even though this region has many ideal attributes for business including direct proximal access to the US.

• EPICentre employs a unique multidisciplinary approach in stimulating and supporting campus-based entrepreneurship and education. Experiential, multidisciplinary training offered through programs such as the Entrepreneurial Concentration for Business Majors and Entrepreneurial Minor for Non-Business Students provide students with the opportunity to gain critical real-world skills and knowledge through a selection of tailored, boutique courses that are team taught by faculty from numerous departments and disciplines. In 2015, EpiCentre presented to approximately 5,000 students, hosted more than 4,000 students at entrepreneurial competitions and events, supported 66 community ventures through consultation, and provided comprehensive support and mentorship for 22 new startups. The Centre supported the integration of entrepreneurialism into 36 courses. EPICentre activities created 234 jobs in our region in the last year alone and have resulted in more than 20 start-up companies (EPIC-Annual-Report-Summer-2016.pdf)">http://epicentreuwindsor.ca/pdf/EPIC-Annual-Report-Summer-2016.pdf).
• Through EPICentre, students gain hands-on experience with consulting opportunities made possible by international collaborations. The level of faculty involvement in EPICentre sets it apart from similar entrepreneurship programs elsewhere. At EPICentre, faculty researchers from numerous departments and disciplines, including Business, Law, Engineering, the School of Creative Arts, Nursing, Chemistry and Biochemistry, and Computer Science, carry out entrepreneurial activities involving students and provide mentorship to budding entrepreneurs. EPICentre is widely recognized for the scope and success of its numerous community collaborations. EPICentre contributes significantly and collaboratively to a regional innovation cluster that includes WETech Alliance’s Regional Innovation Centre, the Windsor-Essex Economic Development Corporation’s Economic Development and Small Business Centre, and St. Clair College’s Genesis Centre, which is now a part of EPICentre. In addition to working closely with St. Clair College to manage successful youth entrepreneurship outreach programs at both institutions, EPICentre is also developing collaborative innovation outreach initiatives with local high schools and is engaged in a number of international collaborations with incubation and accelerator entities in the United States and England.
• EPICentre’s impact on our economy and in our community is significant. It builds on synergies and expands services offered by the entities of our regional innovation cluster to stimulate and support economic growth. Although early in the Centre’s development, there is ample evidence of its impact in the growth of student-led entrepreneurial clubs and activities on campus and in the community.

Community Collaborations and Engagement that Drive Life Improvement and Economic Activity

There are a great number of activities that are having an impact on Windsor-Essex. They are activities that are driven by on-going campus developments, work-integrated learning, faculty and student research, and formal partnerships, and many of them have been referred to in other sections of this SMA. They touch on virtually every facet of life in Windsor-Essex. The following list is a snapshot of a few of the collaborations that resonate deeply in the community.

• The University’s ongoing campus transformation plan has injected $300 million of direct construction costs into the local economy, and a far greater resulting economic stimulus.
• The University’s Cross-Border Institute is playing a major role in assessing many aspects of the planned new Windsor-Detroit Gordie Howe Bridge, and the University has now partnered with the City of Windsor to establish the Institute for Border Logistics and Security (IBLS). The IBLS will be a part of the Windsor-Essex Economic Development Corporation, which is also now located on our campus, and will provide logistical support for companies dependent on the cross-border movement of goods and people for their business success.
• Students in Social Work, Clinical Psychology, and other disciplines contribute 288,500 hours of unpaid service in the Windsor-Essex region annually, an economic equivalent of close to $20 million of service.
• The Windsor International Film Festival that attracts close to 20,000 film goers to the downtown relies heavily upon student volunteers during the Festival week, coming from our business, film and other programs. The students also gain valuable experience in the business side of the arts.
• Students in the Publishing Practicum in our English and Creative Writing Program assist Canadian authors with the editing, publishing and marketing of their books. Each year there is a book launch in the City that attracts a large community audience. This Practicum is one of the reasons why Windsor-Essex is recognized as a great place for creative writers, whether they be novelists or poets.
• The School of Dramatic Art directly engages the Windsor and Essex County community through its production arm, University Players. University Players has been a pillar of the community for nearly sixty years, bring pre-professional theatre to the region, and hosting special events in the community such as Let’s Talk Theatre.
• The School of Dramatic Art engages in community youth programming through Changing the Odds: Community Transformation through the Arts (CTO), a program conceived by a group of invested community stakeholders. Dramatic Art has created a collaborative, transformative program that employs the arts to effect positive outcomes for youth living with challenging circumstances, while at the same time providing new models of engagement amongst all invested parties who serve our youth.  CTO provides mentorship and community connection through Guest Artists and local youth centres. It also strives to nurture leadership potential and creative thinking among youth. Four years of program evaluation has demonstrated that drama and theatre are solid vehicles to best showcase the stories of young people. This program employs students from the Drama in Education and Community program as leaders to mentor and guide youth by using performance to investigate important current issues, such as: cyber addictions, bullying, racial discrimination, home life struggles, foster care, sexual orientation, social pressures, and goal setting, to name a few.

Metrics and targets

Enrolment Strategy and Program Direction

Enrolment plan and corridor midpoints

This section also establishes the agreed-upon corridor midpoint that will form the basis of enrolment-related funding over the course of the SMA period.

Corridor midpoint

For funding purposes 26,337.32 Weighted Grant Units (WGU) will be the corridor midpoint value for the University of Windsor. This value was determined using the institution’s actual enrolment (expressed as WGUs) from the 2016-17 academic year. The University of Windsor will receive funding consistent with this level of enrolment and subject to the policies contained within the Ontario University Funding Model Technical Manual, May 2017, Version 1.0.

Projected funding-eligible undergraduate enrolments

Below is the institutions projected enrolment of funding-eligible undergraduate enrolments for the University of Windsor

Note – for this table, Full-time Headcount should be reported for Fall term only.

Graduate allocation – SMA 2017-2020

Below are the allocation of funding eligible graduate and PhD spaces for the University of Windsor

Note – allocations are shown in FTEs

Projected international enrolment

Below is the institutions projected enrolment of funding-eligible undergraduate enrolments for the University of Windsor

Note:  International enrolments include all funding ineligible international students.

International enrolment strategy and collaboration

The pursuit of an international strategy has been a focus at the University of Windsor for decades. This commitment to internationalization was reaffirmed as one of the five institutional goals in the University’s current Strategic Plan, Thinking Forward…Taking Action. Specifically, this goal states that the University will ‘Promote international engagement through student recruitment, student and faculty exchanges, and partnerships that complement our teaching and research strengths”. Five actions are identified in support of this goal:

1. Encourage the engagement of every academic program in international initiatives as they are appropriate to the discipline
2. Compete effectively at a global level to attract and retain the best international students and manage international student enrolment opportunities sustainably in the context of institutional and program capacity and priorities
3. Encourage faculty, student and staff exchanges and placements, as well as co-op and internship opportunities, that offer an international experience
4. Provide encouragement and support to University of Windsor centres or groups that have the capacity to significantly engage in international research and graduate training opportunities
5. Provide clear and consistent messages to potential international students and researchers about the benefits of studying or working at the University of Windsor, and provide supportive services for them when they are here

This commitment to internationalization was endorsed by the University of Windsor Senate, and formally approved by the University of Windsor’s Board of Governors. All academic programs that are designed to meet the needs of international students go through the standard approval processes of the University of Windsor Senate and the Quality Council.

More than fifteen years ago the University recognized that it had an opportunity to develop executive and professional programs in areas that build upon the institution’s strengths in Engineering, Business, and Social Work. The Centre for Executive and Professional Education (CEPE) was established, with a mandate to work with Faculties to facilitate the development of Master’s level graduate programs in those areas. CEPE also undertook to reach out to international students seeking a course-based professional graduate program. CEPE has been very successful, and over the years the Masters of Management and Masters of Engineering programs in particular attracted increasing numbers of students, particularly from China and India. Over the past three years, other Faculties have begun to develop similar professional Master’s programs that have a high appeal to international students. They include Master’s programs in Education, Medical Biotechnology, Applied Computing, Actuarial Science, and Applied Economics and Policy.

The strategy of focusing our international efforts on graduate and professional programs in areas where we have strengths is one that has contributed significantly to the University. Since 2012, enrolment in course-based professional programs has more than doubled from 756 students in 2012/13 to 1,743 students in 2016/17. In addition to these efforts in professional graduate programs, recruitment of undergraduate international students is a priority, and is facilitated through a network of agents in a number of key markets around the globe. As well, we continue to attract a significant number of international students to research-based graduate programs, particularly at the doctoral level in areas like Engineering. International students now comprise 57 % of the graduate student body of just over three thousand students. At the institutional level, this growth in international students in professional programs has shifted the balance between undergraduate and graduate students over the past five years, with the graduate population now representing 22 % of the student body.

The University provides institutional support to international students through a newly renovated International Students Centre. In addition to being a place for social gatherings and study, it provides services to assist students from before they arrive in Canada through to graduation, including topics such as visas, work permits, academic support, health care, and other matters important to students coming from abroad.

The University of Windsor’s international strategy is further supported by a large number of formal partnership agreements that provide academic pathways for international students and student exchanges, and foster research collaborations. We have agreements with over 30 universities in China alone, which represents the largest country from which students come to study, but in addition we have agreements with institutions across Europe, India, the Middle East, Africa and Central and South America. One of the University’s more prominent international programs is the Master’s Degree in Automotive Engineering in partnership with Politecnico di Torino in Italy, the home of Fiat. Students complete one year in Windsor working with Chrysler, and one year in Turin working with Fiat, and graduate with a Master’s degree from each institution.

The success of the University of Windsor in recruiting international students is consistent with the Federal Government’s immigration policies that favour skilled workers and is designed to make it attractive for trained graduates to remain in Canada, eventually leading to citizenship. In fact, the Federal Government announced last year a rise in immigration levels designed to offset demographic decline and to maintain and increase economic growth in Canada. The University of Windsor provides a successful pathway for international students to realize their dream as well as assisting in ensuring Canada’s future prosperity.

The growth in international student numbers is being watched very carefully. An Enterprise Risk Management framework was developed for the Board of Governors, and it identifies enrolment as a priority area for the university. The University has taken steps to buffer itself as much as possible against the risk that international enrolment could drop. It has done this by developing a broader suite of professional graduate programs that appeal to a wider segment of prospective students, and continues with efforts to attract students from different geographic regions. Closer to home, the University of Windsor has implemented a special tuition fee for international undergraduate students from the US, recognizing that our location right on the border creates an opportunity to tap into the high population region in Michigan and around the Great Lakes. This fee is lower than the normal international fee, and is pegged to be close to par with in-state tuition fees that American students would pay.

As part of the risk mitigation, this past year the University completed its first comprehensive enrolment management plan. It identifies a full set of steps that are being implemented to ensure we are doing all we can to maximize our enrolment potential. These steps include recruitment, marketing communications, admissions policies, student transition and retention and success programs, program innovation and development, and changing organizational structures and systems and practices. We are ensuring that all of these steps are being addressed.

In summary, internationalization is deeply embedded within all that the University of Windsor does. It is a strategy that has enabled our university to become one of the most diverse in Canada, it is a strategy that reflects our location on an international border, and it is a strategy that reflects the reality that Windsor-Essex is a destination of choice for people from all around the world.

Strategic areas of program strength and expansion

Program areas of strength

1. Business
2. Creative Arts and Media
3. Education in a Global Context
4. Engineering
5. Environment and Ecosystem Adaptation and Recovery
6. Health and Wellness
7. Humanities
8. International Borders
9. Law
10. Physical and Chemical Sciences

The proposed areas of program strength are intended to inform program approval processes.

Program areas of expansion

1. Health and Wellness
2. Law, Education, and Professional Studies
3. Engineering, science and computing
4. Creative Arts and Digital Media
5. Business, Cultures and Governance

Financial sustainability

The Ministry and the University recognize that financial sustainability and accountability are critical to achieving institutional mandates and realizing Ontario’s vision for the postsecondary education system. To this end, it is agreed that:

It is the responsibility of the governing board and senior administrators of the University to identify, track, and address financial pressures and sustainability issues. At the same time, the Ministry has a financial stewardship role. The Ministry and the University agree to work collaboratively to achieve the common goal of financial sustainability and to ensure that Ontarians have access to a full range of affordable, high-quality postsecondary education options, now and in the future.

The University remains accountable to the Ministry with respect to effective and efficient use of provincial government resources and student resources covered by policy directives of the Ministry, or decisions impacting upon these, to maximize the value and impact of investments made in the postsecondary education system.

Institutional Collaborations and Partnerships

The University of Windsor continues to forge interinstitutional partnerships in support of student access to learning opportunities and excellence and innovation in research.

The University of Windsor’s partnerships and collaborations reflect the dual local-global emphasis at the foundation of much of our work. Our ties to other institutions reflect the industrial, professional, social and cultural priorities of our region, but also the common interests and concerns of our international partners. Our unique border location allows students to take distinctly designed cross-border degree programs with sister universities in Detroit. We are perhaps the only university in Canada that allows students to literally take classes in two different countries on the same day. Joint degrees with Italian universities enable students in both countries to gain a much greater understanding of automotive technologies and industries that benefit local economies in all the regions involved. Joint research and pedagogical exchange programs with Chinese universities draw on core research challenges in both local regions, from clean water and lake ecology, to the challenges of diversity and cultural difference in teaching and learning.

These collaborations enable us to focus on local concerns, but to bring global expertise to the table. We bring the world to Windsor, and take Windsor to the world. This is a critical role in the region’s transitional economy, as industries, institutions, and inhabitants explore new ways to define themselves, new technologies, and new opportunities.

These partnerships are also critical in expanding the reach, impact, and stability of resource-intensive programming and initiatives through cost and expertise sharing. Joint degrees, learning pathways, and shared course and program design initiatives enable the provision of learning opportunities that would otherwise not be available, both in our community and in our partner communities. These collaborations are not just cost-effective, however: the richness of perspectives and diversity of participants involved in these programs offer considerable scope for new experiences and growth. As a locally focused but outward-looking university, we continue to seek opportunities to develop these partnerships.

Partnerships with Colleges

The University has taken significant steps to enhance its course equivalency and transitional student support over the last two years, and has begun to see gains in student engagement and in college-university pathway development. We have standard articulation agreements for College of Applied Arts and Technology diploma graduates from ten fields, and approximately 40 transfer and degree completion agreements with Ontario colleges, including St. Clair, Lambton, Fanshawe, Georgian, Mohawk, Seneca, Sheridan, and Fleming. The University is currently beginning a project to refine or develop pathways from all Ontario CAAT human service programs in the University of Windsor BA and BSW programs.

Our most extensive college-university partnership is with St. Clair College (Windsor). Of particular note are a number of curricular collaborations in professional programs, including the Collaborative Honours Bachelor of Science in Nursing, the Honours Social Work degree for graduates of the Ontario College Child and Youth Program, the Bachelor of Engineering Technology for graduates of the Civil Engineering Technology advanced diploma, and the Concurrent Bachelor of Arts (Psychology)/Bachelor of Education/ Diploma in Early Childhood Education. In a recent addition, the Bachelor of Arts in Psychology (Hons.) with Autism and Behavioural Science Post-Graduate Certificate Program with St. Clair, Fanshawe, and Lambton College, University students complete 30 semester courses towards their Honours Bachelor of Arts in Psychology before applying to the Post-Graduate Certificate program at the college of their choice. They are able to complete both credentials in four years. This model is unique in the province. Similarly, the Engineering Technology Advanced Diploma to Degree Engineering Bridging Program will be the first of its kind in Canada. We are also actively promoting expanding pathways from St Clair to the University’s School of Computer Science: one program, currently in development, will enable St. Clair students to receive co-op experience through the University, something not available at St. Clair College. A $600,000 e-Campus grant is funding this project, which takes account of prior learning and provides a fully online modular pathway to completion of a degree in Computer Science.

In a unique arrangement, the University and St. Clair College have signed an agreement that will see the University of Windsor’s Entrepreneurship, Practice and Innovation Centre (EPICentre) extend its entrepreneurial outreach to St. Clair College’s Genesis Centre. The St. Clair team will merge with EPICentre, creating a new EPICentre location at St. Clair called EPIC Genesis. This collaboration will reduce duplication of services, while extending the breadth and variety of entrepreneurial education for college and university students in Windsor-Essex. It will create opportunities to connect and integrate the varying skill sets of these post-secondary students and graduates, and enable highly innovative venture teams. The University’s Centre for Teaching and Learning and Office of Open Learning are collaborating with St. Clair’s curriculum and academic development staff on the provision of pedagogical training and curriculum development support.

Partnerships with Universities

Key Domestic Partnerships

Our partnership with Western University to offer Schulich’s medical program at the University of Windsor is a critical contribution to the stability of distributed medical education in the province and to medical leadership in the local area. The MD program runs simultaneously at both the London and Windsor campuses, and Windsor Campus students are officially Western students, while also holding 'affiliate' University of Windsor student status. The program combines live interactive videoconference pedagogies, sim lab case studies, experiential learning, and face-to-face lecture, lab, and small group learning.

In partnership with Brock University and Lakehead University, we offer the Joint PhD in Educational Studies, which enables students to pursue doctoral studies in cognition and learning, educational leadership and policy studies, and to experience the social/political/cultural contexts of education at Windsor, Lakehead and Brock. Combining face-to-face summer programs that rotate among institutions with online and tutorial-based learning, the program enables students to pursue their education from a wide range of locations. The interinstitutional collaboration also expands the breadth and depth of disciplinary and supervisory expertise available to students.

The University has become increasingly engaged in shared online course and program development, and has been highly successful  in securing eCampus Ontario funding for program development, often in partnership with other universities. A key example is the redevelopment of Windsor’s course-based Masters of Physics, in partnership with Trent and York Universities, focusing on improving student access to courses and sustainability of the program. Each of these institutions has historically low enrolment in their respective Masters of Physics, making it difficult to offer courses regularly. This new project will provide a larger pool of students to improve sustainability and allow for greater diversity and frequency of offerings, which is expected to enhance enrolment, retention, and completion in these degrees.

Key International Partnerships

The University of Windsor has always sought and welcomed international collaboration. We maintain a wide array of institutional agreements with international partner colleges and universities located throughout the world. Some of these include exchange agreements that enhance student, staff and faculty mobility. Others provide for dual or joint degree programs, transfer articulation, and research collaboration. Many establish pathways for general collaboration between institutions. The University has international partnerships with universities in 35 countries, including over 30 institutional partnerships with universities in China alone.

 Cross-border institutional collaborations are a distinguishing feature of the University: students in programs such as Visual Arts and the Built Environment and the Dual JD program in Law divide their time, over the course of their programs, on both side of the border. Many other programs incorporate cross-border experiences into the curriculum, such as EPICentre’s cross-border collaborations with Detroit entrepreneurial hubs, and the Law School’s International Intellectual Property Law Clinic. Other joint international programs include the dual degree Master’s of Engineering program in automotive engineering, with the Politecnico di Torino in Italy.

The University’s strong partnership with Southwest University in Chongqing, China is a key example of international partnership involving both research and teaching. The partnership led to creation of the China-Canada Three Gorges Water Science Centre (CCTW) in 2008, which has received significant bilateral funding and research support. CCTW has recently been designated by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology as an International Science and Technology collaboration base. CCTW consists of major Chinese universities and high-level government organizations, including the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR) and the Post Construction Committee for the Three Gorges Dam. Based on CCTW’s success, research is now expanding into the Plateau Lakes in a collaboration in which the lead Chinese institution is Yunnan University. The collaborations involve faculty, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows from both countries working on common projects, as well as visits and exchanges.

The University of Windsor leads the Reciprocal Education Project, which is funded by the largest SSHRC Partnership Grant given in education. The project involves a number of other institutions, including the University of Toronto and East China Normal University in Shanghai, as well as participation by schools in Ontario, Chongqing and Shanghai. The research centres on comparative pedagogies in educational philosophy and practice in Canada and China. There are reciprocal visits by student teachers and experiential learning and training opportunities in the guest country and schools.

Program Initiatives that create economic efficiencies

For Canada to improve its capacity for research output, innovative strategies that work across jurisdictions are critical. A primary example is with the participation of the University of Windsor’s Leddy Library in provincial and national consortia to provide scholarly resources, shared digital infrastructure, expertise and digital services:

• The Canadian Research Knowledge Network (CRKN) is a partnership of Canadian universities dedicated to expanding digital content for the academic research and teaching enterprise in Canada. Leddy Library currently participates in 46 of the 54 consortial licenses in CRKN for major scholarly journals, databases and full-text
• The Ontario Council of University Libraries (OCUL) Scholars Portal provides additional provincial shared electronic resource consortial licensing for resources that are not available through CRKN. ScholarsPortal also provides a digital preservation and access hosting platform for over 600,000 electronic books, nearly 50 million articles in over 20,000 scholarly journals, plus geospatial data, shared digital map collections, and research data management services to Ontario’s 21 university libraries and the students and faculty they support
• Leddy Library collaborates internationally with colleagues in libraries and information industries in organizations such as the National Information Standards Organization (NISO), Coalition for Networked Information (CNI), and SPARC, advancing open data, open access and open education through advocacy, leadership and education

Through the above partnerships, Leddy Library extends greater access to academic resources, at a lower cost, and collaboratively shares costs and expertise in leading digital services that few consortial arrangements in North America can match.

Ministry/Government Commitments

• The SMA2 process has focused on implementing the first stages of the new funding model and demonstrating the ongoing commitment by all colleges and universities to student success. Future growth will only be funded through negotiated changes to an institution’s funded enrolment corridor . Through the SMA2 cycle, the ministry will continue to work closely with institutions to ensure all dimensions of the funding model are implemented.
• In a memo to colleges and universities dated March 7, 2017, the ministry committed to using the SMA2 (2017-20) process as a transitional phase to commence the collaborative and joint development of performance metrics and targets, tied to funding, for SMA3 (2020-23). The ministry reiterates this commitment and reaffirms that metrics and targets included in SMA2 are not tied to funding at this time and are a beginning point for further discussions with the sector prior to their application in SMA3. Colleges and universities will have the opportunity to reset and realign metrics prior to the application of metrics in SMA3. The ministry will also engage other stakeholders as part of discussions on a broad metrics strategy.
  • The ministry commits to establishing a joint working group with each of the sectors and to begin detailed discussions in fall 2017 on metrics/targets and to seek input on the performance measurement methodology for SMA3.

• Colleges, universities and the ministry all benefit from processes that are transparent and non-duplicative. The ministry commits to work with colleges and universities to continue to streamline processes and seek opportunities to further reduce red tape (in part through increased access to other tools) , including reducing or eliminating duplicated reporting requirements.
• Through SMA2 discussions, the ministry has heard concerns about the challenges of delivering breadth in programming for Francophone and Francophile students, including the cost and funding of such delivery. Starting in fall 2017, the ministry commits to consulting institutions who have a formal mandate for bilingual and/or French-language delivery to review the delivery of French-Language programming and consider these concerns.
• In 2016, an extension of the existing tuition policy framework was announced to support a major reform in OSAP. The ministry will engage with both the college and university sectors around the next tuition policy framework, including examining the issue of tuition anomalies in certain professional programs as a result of past changes to tuition policy, and, for colleges, examining tuition levels relative to competitive college tuition frameworks in Canada.
• In recent years and during the SMA process, there has been an increased interest in the creation of a new polytechnic designation in the Ontario postsecondary education system. Starting in fall 2017, the ministry commits to undertake a review that examines whether improved benefits for students and employers are sufficient to make such a change. The ministry commits to working collaboratively with institutions across the sectors on this review.
• The ministry commits to continue to work collaboratively with universities to assess the anticipated need for additional graduate spaces related to programs that are currently under development.
• Starting in fall 2017, the ministry commits to undertake a review of the university Northern Grant working collaboratively with universities to examine whether the criteria for access and allocations of the Northern Grant represent an equitable approach

2014-2017 Strategic Mandate Agreement, University of Windsor