Results

In 2016, students, faculty, staff, Board and Senate members, alumni and community members responded to the university’s request to help energize the Eyes High strategy for 2017-22 and shape the future of the university. Earlier that year, the university began defining and gathering stakeholder input on the process, principles, governance and support structures required to guide the consultation process. Faculty members in the Haskayne School of Business built a strategy-planning process designed to be educational, inclusive, collaborative, leveraged, focused and inspirational. The process reflected President Elizabeth Cannon’s commitment to undertaking a thoughtful, authentic consultation that will yield an effective and meaningful outcome. It focused on engaging students, faculty, staff, alumni, friends and community leaders in a range of activities guided by the following principles:

• Educational – internal and external communities are made aware of the progress of the current Eyes High strategic vision and key achievements to date are celebrated
• Inclusive – key internal and external stakeholders are actively engaged in a transparent process
• Collaborative and consultative – stakeholders are working towards the good of the institution as a whole
• Leveraged – appropriate engagement opportunities are utilized to integrate input and ideas
• Aspirational but grounded – there is a free flow of ideas but there are ground rules in place
• Inspirational – internal and external communities are reinvigorated and recommitted to the energized Eyes High strategy and the University of Calgary as a whole.

A Strategic Oversight Committee brought together key campus stakeholders who provided the overall strategic direction to the consultation process, communication strategy, feedback themes, document drafts, approval process and final strategy. A Secretariat group provided operational resource support for the Strategic Oversight Committee.

What did the focus groups cover?
Download the guide(s) and find out:

• Teaching and Learning 
• Research and Scholarship
• Community and Environment
• Campus Culture
• Student Experience
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University community members provided feedback by participating in focus groups, completing an online survey, visiting roving booths across campus, completing weekly polls, and submitting written comments. Over three months, more than 10,000 points of engagement were recorded – 4,000+ of those involved survey completion and/or focus group participation. Three working papers and a consultation summary (see right) captured the contributions of the university community, and served as key reference documents for members of the Strategic Oversight Committee as they refined the original Eyes High strategy.

Working papers and consultation summary

• Environmental scan working paper

• Survey working paper

• Focus group working paper

• Consultation summary

On Friday, March 17, 2017 the Board of Governors of the University of Calgary approved the final content draft of the energized Eyes High strategy, which will guide the university forward from 2017-22. This followed similar approval at the General Faculties Council on March 9,  2017, and was the final step in the document’s journey through the university’s governance process. The document was formally introduced on April 28, 2017 as we wrapped up our 50th Anniversary year and kicked off our next half-century. From there, the energized strategy cascaded throughout the university to serve as a guide to planning at all levels.

Eyes High 2017-22 Strategy

• Download strategy publication