Brescia University College has set ambitious goals in its new five-year strategic plan, including increasing its enrollment to 1,200 students, and Principal Colleen Hanycz says the women’s university college can rise to the challenge.
On Sept. 15 Brescia launched the “Living Leadership” strategic plan, which outlines four objectives: to have a student-centred focus; to be Canada’s pre-eminent leadership destination; to build community relationships; and to demonstrate innovation in research, teaching and learning. The plan will guide growth and other activities over the next five years.
The overarching strategic objective is “to strengthen Brescia’s competitive position and embrace our values while growing our student community to 1,200 full-time students by 2015 (a 10 per cent increase).”
“It remembers what we do well, but it pushes us to do more,” Hanycz says. “It continues to emphasize Brescia’s student-centred focus.”
Hanycz feels it is time Brescia beat its own drum. “Brescia over history has been very quiet about its successes,” she says. “We need to build up our profile. We need to be telling our story more.”
Brescia has built a strong reputation for its food and nutritional sciences program. The new strategic plan builds on this strength, including establishing a Centre of Innovation in Food and Nutritional Sciences and possibly launching a PhD program in the field.
Primarily a teaching institution, the plan also involves enhancing Brescia’s research culture across the campus. The goal is to establish an additional master’s program, hire a research officer to support faculty research, and achieve a minimum annual increase of 25 per cent in Tri-Council grant applications.
Students are an integral part of building Brescia’s profile. This year, Brescia has 1,000 full-time undergraduate students – the largest amount in its history. With this success, Hanycz is confident the affiliate college will be able to increase this number by 200 students over five years.
To help achieve these targets, Brescia is expanding its recruitment approach. Beginning with a pilot program this year with the popular Management and Organizational Studies program, Brescia is implementing a January admissions model. The goal is to address difficulties international students face in securing visas in time for the September start, and gives students options for entry dates.
But keeping students at Brescia is just as important as recruiting them. The affiliate college hopes to increase retention rates to 85 per cent on both the domestic and international fronts.
And with extra students comes the need for addition living space. Brescia has developed plans to build a 300-bed residence behind Ursuline Hall. There are also plans in the works to establish permanent food services on the campus.
A cornerstone of community engagement involves alumnae, which the affiliate college hopes to focus on by establishing five regional alumnae chapters and increase homecoming attendance by 10 per cent annually. “You very quickly can lose touch with your undergraduate institution. We need to make greater efforts to keep alumnae involved. The challenge is to be as relevant to those who are 85 (years old) as those 25,” she says.
To strengthen Brescia’s profile locally and abroad, the affiliate college’s plans include establishing a Leadership Advisory Council and funding two scholarships for women in developing countries.
So much of the university experience goes beyond the classroom.
The new strategic plan continues Brescia’s focus on leadership. Part of this involves the implementing academic and non-academic strategies that optimize learning for women and establishing a robust program for career development.
The women’s university college hopes to increase enrollment the Dimensions of Leadership module, develop a Summer Institute for Leadership, and establish an annual national leadership award – all of which highlight Brescia’s desire to become Canada’s pre-eminent leadership destination for women.
This new five-year strategic plan is ambitious, acknowledges Hanycz, but if forms the building blocks upon which the institution will make decisions and move forward.
“We were very focused on having a plan with measurable goals,” says Hanycz. “The numbers are there so we won’t have any trouble seeing if we are there or not.”
To view the “Living Leadership” strategic plan online, visit https://brescia.uwo.ca/about/strategic_plan/index.html or click on the QR code.