UNSTOPPABLE
Growth through focus
The entrepreneurial university
Unstoppable is our "growth through focus" plan to keep our Eyes High ambitions and strengthen our community in uncertain times. It supports the University of Calgary’s academic and research plans as well as the Indigenous, mental health and sustainability strategies.
It puts the University of Calgary on course to be the entrepreneurial university – one where students, faculty and staff face fewer barriers to innovation and more tools to change the world around them. It is a plan to empower a world-class faculty to tackle society’s big problems and to let the leaders that make up our student body write their own future.
A great research university is at the heart of a resilient community. Through innovation and hard work, we can be the university Calgary, Alberta, Canada and the world needs as we write the next chapter of our collective story.
View the slides from the October 13, 2020 Town Hall here
Why we must act
After a decade of astonishing growth, we face new headwinds. Reduced funding, disruption in post-secondary education and an economic recession are all being accelerated by a global health emergency that could force a fundamental reimagining of the university experience. To meet this moment, University of Calgary students, faculty and staff need new tools and new focus.
Three big ideas
Our plan is built around three big ideas that will differentiate our university and drive growth: transdisciplinary scholarship, integration with our community and future-focused program delivery that will see us expand flexibility and customizability of your UCalgary experience.
A bold new focus for scholarship, where problems and possibilities transcend traditional disciplines and create new areas of knowledge.
Pursue and secure industry and community partnerships by defining the rules of engagement for scholars, removing unnecessary bureaucratic barriers and incentivizing commercialization of research.
Expand the modes we teach in, modularize our programming, and support microcredentialing that gives students and mid-career professionals more options to tailor their own education path.
Four areas of focus
Our big ideas are complemented by four areas of focus – life sciences, energy transformations, city building and exploring digital worlds. These are cross-cutting topics where the university is already seeing explosive growth. These areas of focus serve as reputation drivers for our entire institution – elevating our position among global universities and driving interest and investment across all our faculties.
What success will look like in 10 years
Next steps
- Community feedback
- Launch of formal engagement plan (October 19)