MinistryofTraining,CollegesandUniversities

InstitutionalVision,ProposedMandate StatementandPriorityObjectives
Asubmissiontobegintheprocessofdevelopinga strategicmandateagreement(SMA): To: TheMinistryofTraining,CollegesandUniversities From: DanielWoolf QueensUniversity

1. Our Proposed Mandate Our Academic Plans vision statement says it best: Queens University is the Canadian research-intensive university with a transformative student learning experience.1 Our fundamental mandate is to exemplify the quintessential balanced academy,2 defined by a student learning experience situated within a researchintensive setting to such good effect that the engagement of our undergraduate students remains as strong as it always has been.3 This fundamental mandate is as central to our professional Faculties and Schools (Business, Education, Engineering and Applied Science, Health Sciences and Law) as it is to the Faculty of Arts and Science. Our priority objectives seek to build on the foundational programs offered by our Faculties and Schools, so that we might address the issues highlighted in the governments recent discussion paper4 and support the provincial governments vision and principles for post-secondary education. More specifically, the mandates three priority objectives flow naturally from a major challenge facing university students today. Ask students for their primary reason for attending university and more than half of them will cite their enhanced employment prospects,5 and most commentators agree with Jeffrey Simpson that the value of a university degree is incontestable,6 notwithstanding which many graduating with a baccalaureate degree are now identifying the necessity of seeking a second credential before entering the workplace. This is not a new phenomenon: not so long ago, increasing numbers of Ontario high-school graduates felt it necessary to supplement the high-school diploma with a post-secondary credential. Todays students recognize the need to supplement the baccalaureate degrees academic and foundational skills, described by our Academic Plan7 as the fundamental outcomes of the Queens student learning experience. Employers still value these skills highly, but are also looking for more specific career-related skills and experiences. The resulting combination of twenty-first century learning skills and experiential opportunities is what students need if they are to make productive contributions to Ontarios prosperity. With the foregoing as context, our mandates three priority objectives commit Queens University to Expanding undergraduate credentials Developing twenty-first century skills through entrepreneurial and experiential learning Expanding graduate credentials It will be clear from what follows that none of these priority objectives represents a departure for Queens. Examples are provided to demonstrate what we are already doing in support of each of these objectives. These examples represent the springboard for our goal of ensuring that, by 2018, every one of our students has the opportunity to pursue an expanded set of credentials and enjoy more experiential and entrepreneurial learning, all delivered in ways that best meet the students aspirations while using innovation to improve productivity. 2. Our Vision and its Relationship to Our Proposed Mandate Statement Our Academic Plans vision of Queens as the Canadian research-intensive university with a transformative student learning experience is supported by what our Strategic Research Plan calls the inextricable link that binds teaching and research.8 This finds its epitome in programs like Inquiry@Queens, which helps Queens undergraduates discover the satisfactions of well-conducted research.9 Sometimes, research and graduate education grow at the expense of undergraduate student engagement, but our fundamental mandate commits us to ensuring that this never happens at Queens.

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Our Academic Plan, supported by our Strategic Research Plan, aspires to build on our strengths to guide Queens in the twenty-first century. Our mandate statement aspires to do this in the service of the province of Ontario, from which we draw almost 80 percent of our undergraduate students.10 A further elaboration of the relationship of our vision to our mandate statement is captured by another sentence from the Academic Plans vision statement: Since its early days, Queens has developed leaders in government, industry, health care, education, research and many other important sectors of society. So that this might continue, the student learning experience at Queens will provide our graduates with, in the words of the governments discussion paper, the globally competitive outcomes that ensure their employability across the full range of opportunities in Ontarios creative economy. We shall do this by offering expanded credentials, and opportunities for experiential and entrepreneurial learning, all designed to prepare our students for whatever the creative economy expects of them, and always with opportunities for additional learning if it should be required. As we pursue our objectives, we shall be mindful of the need to be more productive too. A recent study of US higher education identified five practices for raising productivity.11 In respect of two of these practices, reducing attrition and increasing the graduation rate, Queens is already extremely productive: our attrition rate from first to second year is 5.6 percent, almost five percentage points lower than the average for the U15 group of Canadian research-intensive universities, and our six-year graduation rate is 86.5 percent, more than 12 percentage points higher than the U15 average.12 For good measure, our Ontario student loan default rate of 1.2 percent is one-third the average default rate for all universities in Ontario.13 These strengths provide the firmest of foundations for further productivity enhancements using two other practices mentioned in the study, technology-enabled learning and continuous improvement of our learning outcomes. (We have already addressed issues arising from the fifth practice, the optimization of non-core services and other operations.) Queens is not new to technology-enabled learning. We were one of the first distance-education providers in North America,14 driven by a desire to expand access to those not able to be residential students in Kingston. This desire is still alive and well and our professional schools are using technology-enabled learning methods to deliver a wide variety of high-quality additional qualification programs. Using technology in this way will additionally position us to collaborate with other universities in Ontario to set standards for delivery and develop good practices, which will help to increase access by keeping costs low. Continuous improvement of learning outcomes is embedded firmly within a multi-year Faculty of Arts and Science initiative to redesign large-enrolment first-year courses. The classroom is the laboratory: learning outcomes are monitored and the information then used to guide further modifications to the design of the course. In this context, technology often enables effective redesign. For example, a common feature of redesign is a drastic reduction of the number of formal lectures, and those lectures that are delivered exploit modern, and ever more sophisticated, technology. This allows much more time for small-group sessions, where students in the course interact at different times with the course professor(s), and graduate and undergraduate facilitators trained in pedagogy. Equally importantly, the students in the course interact much more with each other than hitherto. Gains in productivity flow directly from the improvement in learning outcomes, and also from the well documented and considerable benefits to the mentors. These and other enhancements will enable us to achieve our objectives and also envisage growth in the numbers of both undergraduate and graduate students at Queens (for details, see section 3 below). This growth will help us to meet the high demand from Ontarios students for the experience and opportunities provided by a high-quality and purposeful education that is both our tradition and our future.

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3. Our Priority Objectives

3.1 Expanding undergraduate credentials

Recent examples of Queens offering opportunities with expanded undergraduate credentials include the accelerated pathway to an MD program, which requires only two years undergraduate study,15 and our combined JD/BCom, which confers two degrees in one year less than the time taken if the studies were pursued sequentially. We are also expanding pathways to engineering degrees through collaborations with St Lawrence College and Northern College that provide for degree credit for college courses. The success of these ventures has led us to look for opportunities to expand the credentials for our own undergraduates within existing degree programs by maintaining the foundation of a liberal educations academic skills,16 but with an increased focus on preparedness for the labour market, in such a way that students may graduate with an additional credential and their baccalaureate degree at the same time, or very shortly after, they complete their degree. Noting that the proportion of Ontario college applicants with a university degree has more than doubled in the past six years,17 one such additional credential will be a college-level certificate or diploma. Our purpose here is not to compete with colleges. Rather, as a result of a Memorandum of Understanding signed November, 2011, between St Lawrence College and Queens University, the college is creating opportunities for our students to receive an applied credential concurrent with their Arts and Science degree at Queens. A detailed investigation of the college-level programs most often pursued by Queens graduates shows that many of the popular options are related to either business or communication. Informed by this, Queens and St Lawrence, are in the advanced stages of planning the first expanded credential programs. Part of this planning includes consideration of credit-transfer arrangements that enable recognition of college courses for university degree credit (e.g., in place of a minor in a degree program) and vice versa, thereby enabling completion of the two credentials in considerably less time than it would take if the two were pursued sequentially. Thus we shall reduce the time students take to obtain the credentials (including their degree) they need to be ready for the labour market. The credit-transfer principles established by Queens and St Lawrence will then allow both institutions to expand the application of these principles to partnerships with other colleges and universities in Ontario. A further set of opportunities for expanded undergraduate credentials comes from within our own programs. Here our purpose is to complement college offerings. Such developments are not new at Queens. For example, in 2004 we began offering our undergraduate commerce students the option of pursuing a certificate in responsible leadership within their degree. Today, up to 20 percent of BCom students complete this certificate, and past students have told us that the extra credential often gave them the edge they needed to compete successfully for the positions they were seeking. Other programs like this already exist and more are in process. We envisage these types of programs being of particular interest to Queens undergraduate students in the Faculty of Arts and Science, because it will give them the opportunity, within their degree, to combine an outstanding liberal education of a type highly valued by employers with a professional focus through certificate courses that are acceptable for degree credit. Students already graduated from other universities with arts and science degrees will also be attracted by the professional focus of our undergraduate certificate programs. Alternatively, they may prefer to pursue an expanded set of graduate credentials available at Queens (see section 3.3 below). Either way, Queens stands ready to provide the pathways they need.

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The submission template requested that the description of each priority objective be accompanied by responses to a series of questions. Please see Table 3.1 for our responses in respect of this priority objective.

3.2 Developing twenty-first century skills through entrepreneurial and experiential learning
Our professional schools offer a number of entrepreneurial opportunities within the curriculum, a prime example being the Queens Summer Innovation Institute, a collaboration between Business and Engineering that aims to develop innovators and entrepreneurs with a focus on rapidly changing, technology driven companies, and to provide innovative solutions to corporate problems and incubation for start-up companies within Eastern Ontario and beyond.18 Unique in Canada, the program focuses on both entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, looking at corporate innovation and change management through creative problem-solving techniques. After one very successful summer, we are ready to expand this program, both in terms of the number of students it serves and the range of entrepreneurial learning options it offers, and eventually to emulate it with a variety of programs across the university. In parallel with this initiative, an Innovation Survey of undergraduate students conducted by the Alma Mater Society (AMS), Queens undergraduate student government, revealed that students were seeking dedicated physical space, seed funding, and community, professorial and alumni mentors. The AMS has followed this up by connecting with community leaders, through Imagine Kingston and the Downtown Business Association of Kingston, and by meeting with student leaders from St Lawrence College to discuss complementary programming. Stimulating student entrepreneurship finds its roots in the Town and Gown Strategic Plan,19 the focus of which includes attracting and retaining the creative class, developing a talent economy, and connecting students to the business community as economic development objectives. With this in mind, we and PARTEQ Innovations, our renowned technology transfer group, are working closely with the City of Kingston, the Kingston Economic Development Corporation (KEDCO), and the Prince Edward/Lennox and Addington Community Futures Development Corporation (PELA CFDC). These partnerships have the potential to position Queens University as a true engine of innovation that will promote technology and talent exchange and the retention of this talent in Eastern Ontario. Examples of experiential learning already abound at Queens. Within the curriculum at Queens, these examples include community service-learning opportunities ranging from Engineering Practice (Applied Science 100), in which 650 first-year engineering students are introduced to fundamental professional engineering skills and an opportunity to apply engineering science and mathematics content in situations emulating professional practice through 40 or more community-based projects, to a myriad of different courses in Arts and Science that put students into contact with school children, the elderly, and everyone in between. Queens also offers a number of programs that provide students with work experience, including the Queens Undergraduate Internship Program (QUIP), coordinated through Career Services. The program is valued by students for both the academic credit associated with the work experience and the work experience itself, and we are adding to the number and variety of such programs. In a number of respects, internships are more flexible than co-op education and additionally do not require costly duplication of courses in the academic calendar. Furthermore, many employers tell us they prefer internship students to co-op students because students on internships stay long enough (typically 12 or 16 months) with the employer to be genuinely productive. As a further benefit, the learning opportunities for the students themselves are, in consequence, year-round.

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All this notwithstanding, internships have a hard time competing with co-op programs because employers receive a tax credit when they hire a student in a qualifying co-operative education program. The definition of qualifying is not explicitly spelled out, and universities tend to use the definition provided by the Canadian Association for Cooperative Education (CAFCE),20 which militates against internship programs. For this reason, we suggest public policy changes that will help to provide more flexibility in the types of programs the tax credit may support. Employers also value, and students increasingly seek, opportunities for co-curricular experiential and entrepreneurial learning. With this in mind, we are currently compiling a Co-curricular Opportunities Directory, which will identify both co-curricular activities, and the learning outcomes associated with them. The Directory will improve the transparency and accessibility of important experiential learning opportunities to all students and promote the conscious pursuit of deeper learning through the broader learning environment. We expect upwards of 600 entries in the directory once it is established. These are just some of the ways we are responding to Queens students in undergraduate programs who are looking to record the specific experience that is pertinent to the demands of the labour market they will eventually enter. Many of these students are already informally active in Kingston and other local communities. By their fourth year of undergraduate study, 60 percent have participated in community service or volunteer activity, 50 percent have tutored other students on campus or in the Kingston community, 38 percent have completed a practicum, internship, field experience, co-op, or clinical assignment in and around the city, and 33 percent have participated in community-based projects.21 Our goal is to build on the strength of student involvement in the community, and on the opportunities already available to Queens students to engage in curricular and co-curricular activities. We believe there are many more possibilities for connecting our students to Kingston and other communities in Eastern Ontario to the mutual benefit of the students and the communities. The submission template requested that the description of each priority objective be accompanied by responses to a series of questions. Please see Table 3.1 for our responses in respect of this priority objective.

3.3 Expanding Graduate Credentials

One recent US study of graduate education suggests that the graduate degree will become the new bachelors degree, the minimal education credential that high-skills employers require,22 and certainly the desired second credential for many students holding undergraduate degrees is a professional graduate qualification that builds upon learning and skills provided by their undergraduate programs. We are seeing considerable increases in the number of applications to graduate programs, and especially professional graduate programs, which indicates demand is indeed growing. To meet the increased demand, we plan eventually to increase the proportion of graduate students enrolled in professional programs to 50 percent (currently, we are at about 30 percent) without any diminution of the absolute number of students in doctoral-stream programs. Put differently, the growth in the number of graduate students at Queens over the next several years will be focused on professional graduate programs. The programs will be of interest to students with degrees in a variety of disciplines. Furthermore, the programs will not be confined exclusively to areas of study normally associated with professional Faculties. Indeed, we have every expectation that professional graduate study in a number of areas in the social sciences, humanities, and the physical sciences will be of considerable interest to those already holding baccalaureate degrees but looking to add a second, more career-focused credential. Not everyone seeking a graduate credential is looking for a degree. Our programs are, and will increasingly be, laddered, wherever appropriate, to offer alternative credential options, and earlier exit points, at the QueensUniversity| 5

certificate and diploma level. The early exit points will also be entry points for students wanting to return later for a graduate diploma, and, finally, the graduate degree. This dramatically improves access, both because students are able, sometimes in a matter of months, to obtain a graduate certificate, and also because they have the option, if they wish, of returning later for another credential. Thus, a student selects the program that matches and supports his or her current career aspirations, secure in the knowledge that there is an option of returning in the future to expand the credential already obtained. This fluidity between learning and the workforce will meet the needs of each individual students personal situation and reduce to a minimum the completion time for whatever credential satisfies these needs, both now and in the future. Admission to graduate programs typically requires a four-year undergraduate degree, but we are in the process of introducing graduate certificate programs that require only a three-year undergraduate program when coupled with work experience. Students pursuing these programs will then, upon completion, be able to move into a professional diploma or masters program, bringing with them credit towards their further graduate studies from the certificate programs. Both Queens students and those coming from other schools will benefit from the improved access to our professional graduate programs and thereby feed the needs of Ontarios creative economy. With an eye on speed to completion of desired credentials and the efficient use of our facilities, we also plan to offer qualified baccalaureate graduates the additional option of year-round learning by pursuing a special offering of the graduate certificate timed to begin in the spring and summer immediately following the conclusion of their undergraduate studies. This focus on professional certificate, diploma and masters programming will not be at the expense of doctoral-stream (i.e., research-based graduate) degrees. Queens is one of only five universities in Ontario in which the share of research funding flowing to the university is higher than its share of graduate students.23 We are thus well positioned to continue to support our broad range of doctoral-stream graduate programs. Increasingly, the students graduating from these programs are in demand for a much broader range of positions and across all disciplines only one-third of doctoral graduates stay in academia. Put differently, these programs are another way Queens is meeting the needs of the creative economy. All students in graduate programs at Queens will benefit from our recently introduced Expanding Horizons: Professional Skills Development Program, which offers theme-based workshops for graduate students to support their academic, personal, and professional success. The program is structured to deliver relevant training at the most appropriate time during students academic programs. For example, sessions on time management strategies will target those students who are early in their programs while students further into their studies will be the group for which sessions on career planning and interviewing will be relevant. These workshops complement the academic training and serve to provide the tools to increase productivity by helping them finish more quickly, and prepare graduates for leadership roles in various settings. The submission template requested that the description of each priority objective be accompanied by responses to a series of questions. Please see Table 3.2 for our responses in respect of this priority objective. Summary Queens is the quintessential balanced academy. That is what we are. That is what we have always been. Many claim this title. Queens walks the talk. It is the balanced academy that provides the underpinning for our three priority objectives and allows us to state with confidence that they will be achieved. There is no firmer foundation.

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TABLE 3.1 Priority Objective 1: Expanding Undergraduate Credentials Priority Objective 2: Developing Twenty-first Century Skills Through Entrepreneurial and Experiential Learning

A. Effect on total enrolment and enrolment mix Our undergraduate students high admission average indicates the strength of demand for our student learning experience. Our focus on expanded credentials and experiential and entrepreneurial education will enhance this strength. We therefore expect to see an even greater number of excellent applicants for admission to our programs, in response to which we plan to increase undergraduate enrolment across the academy. Enrolment growth by credentials and level of study Our plan is for a steady-state increase of 2000 additional students in undergraduate study by 2018, much of it in Arts and Science, accompanied by increases in Business and Engineering and Applied Science. Some applicants will be attracted to our undergraduate stand-alone certificates, and the variety of options for the programs delivery, including distance learning and on-campus study in spring and summer. Program approval requests and future program mix Our hope is that, wherever possible, we shall not require approval A particular goal is to increase the number of students in the Queens for new programs built on the foundations of existing programs Summer Innovation Institute. We also plan to broaden this programs while offering an additional credential, both when the credential is scope by establishing a laddered graduate program (with the certificate offered by a college and also when we have developed option being the summer institute), which will require government undergraduate credentials that are nested within existing approval. undergraduate degree programs. Balance between teaching and research focus We shall not deviate from our commitment to the balanced academy we have so successfully created, one in which the undergraduate learning experience is enriched by our research-intensive environment, as exemplified by the Undergraduate Research Fellowship and Inquiry@Queens programs. B. Distinctive advantages, strengths or characteristics that make achievement of the objectives credible, likely and desirable First, we are the quintessential balanced academy, one in which student engagement is enriched by, not sacrificed to, the research-intensive environment. Second, the strength of our retention and graduation rates provides the firmest of foundations for all that we wish to do. Third, our focus on expanded credentials and experiential and entrepreneurial learning builds on, and is informed by, the breadth and quality of our professional schools, and the many ways these schools already provide opportunities for expanded credentials and experiential and entrepreneurial learning. Fourth, our new budget model will provide incentives to academic units to create the opportunities for students that are envisaged by the priority objectives, and especially the first. More specifically, and with respect especially to our second priority objective, the Queens University Internship Program is well established, and the Queens Summer Innovation Institute has already seen a successful launch this past summer, is supported by an outstanding partner in PARTEQ Innovations, and has generated keen interest from our students and other potential partners, such as the City of Kingston. C. The timeframe for achieving the objective, resource allocation or redirections required, and metrics to be used to measure progress towards achieving the objectives Programs consistent with our mandate already exist, and more are in the planning stage, with the expectation of being in place for 2013. Our goal is to ensure that, by 2018, every undergraduate student at Queens has the opportunity to pursue an expanded set of credentials and enjoy more experiential and entrepreneurial learning, all delivered in ways that best meet the students aspirations. Monitoring and assessment are essential elements of our academic plan, our research plan and our every-day operations. We are nearing completion of a comprehensive dashboard that will present our numerous goals and targets, periodic progress reports, and the data and information to facilitate evaluation and retain focus. This framework is well-suited to generating and communicating a range of metrics related to expanded credentials and experiential learning, and to ensuring they are properly positioned within our planning activity. We have also selected a set of performance indicators appropriate for each of these priority objectives (see appendix A). D. Where applicable, the innovative initiatives that your institution is pursuing to improve productivity in administration, teaching, research and learning associated with the objectives and any associated costs and resource implications Innovation and productivity will both be addressed through the increased adoption of hybrid learning that is, wherever appropriate, enabled by technology. Our new activity-based budget model and existing programs will serve as an enabler for this objective, and programs already in place (e.g., KEDCO summer internship program, Queens internship programs, Inquiry@Queens) will provide models for what success looks like. Finally, by embedding expanded credentials and experiential and entrepreneurial learning within degree programs, students will have the skills needed for the labour market having spent less time in the post-secondary system than would be required by sequential pursuit of first academic skills and then career-related skills and experiences. E. Any public policy tools that you need to achieve the objectives We noted above that it would be helpful, especially for planning purposes, if we were not required to seek approval for new programs that conform to our mandate, especially when they are built on the foundations of existing programs while offering an additional credential. Changes providing more flexibility for tax credits supporting qualifying co-operative education programs would also help (see page 5 above). F. How these objectives correlate to one or more of the governments principles and parameters for higher education These objectives put students first by focusing on choice, improving quality and flexibility, increasing mobility, and offering new and technologyenabled ways of learning; they meet the needs of the creative economy by ensuring relevance to the labour market and providing appropriate competencies for success in the workforce while reinforcing the value of the academic skills of a liberal education, building on partnerships with other institutions and communities and blending the classroom and the workplace; they focus on productivity and sustainability by playing to our strengths and addressing the changing needs of our society.

TABLE 3.2 Priority Objective 3: Expanding Graduate Credentials

A. Effect on total enrolment and enrolment mix Our focus on expanded credentials and experiential and entrepreneurial education will increase the appeal of our professional graduate programs, which will grow, although we will maintain our current enrolment levels in doctoral-stream (i.e., research-based) graduate programs. Enrolment growth by credentials and level of study Our plan is for an eventual increase in the number of students in professional graduate programs to the point where they represent 50 percent of all graduate students at Queens. The first step to this goal will be an increase of about 350 in the number of students in professional graduate programs by 2018. These numbers include those who will be attracted to our graduate certificates and diplomas. Some of those pursuing these credentials will be doing so from a distance; others will be on campus in spring and summer. Program approval requests and future program mix Our hope is that, wherever possible, we shall not require approval for new programs built on the foundations of existing programs while offering an additional credential, both when the credential is offered by a college and also when we have developed graduate credentials that are nested within existing graduate degree programs. Balance between teaching and research focus We shall not deviate from our commitment to the balanced academy we have so successfully created, one in which the graduate learning experience in professional programs is enriched by our research-intensive environment, which is a feature of our entire academy, including professional schools. B. Distinctive advantages, strengths or characteristics that make achievement of the objective credible, likely and desirable First, the strength of our retention and graduation rates provides the firmest of foundations for all that we wish to do. Second, we are the quintessential balanced academy, one in which student engagement is enriched by, not sacrificed to, the research-intensive environment. Third, our focus on expanded graduate credentials builds on, and is informed by, the breadth and quality of our professional schools, and the many ways these schools already provide opportunities for expanded graduate credentials. Finally, our new budget model will provide incentives to academic units to create the opportunities for students that are envisaged by these priority objectives, especially #1. C. The timeframe for achieving the objective, resource allocation or redirections required, and metrics to be used to measure progress towards achieving the objective Programs consistent with our mandate already exist, and more are in the planning stage, with the expectation of being in place within the next two years. Our goal is to ensure that, by 2018, every undergraduate student at Queens has the opportunity to pursue an expanded set of credentials at the graduate level and enjoy more experiential and entrepreneurial learning, all delivered in ways that best meet the students aspirations. Monitoring and assessment are essential elements of our academic plan, our research plan and our every-day operations. We are nearing completion of a comprehensive dashboard that will present our numerous goals and targets, periodic progress reports, and the data and information to facilitate evaluation and retain focus. This framework is well-suited to generating and communicating a range of metrics related to expanded credentials and experiential learning, and to ensuring they are properly positioned within our planning activity. We have also selected a set of performance indicators appropriate for this priority objective (see appendix A). D. Where applicable, the innovative initiatives that your institution is pursuing to improve productivity in administration, teaching, research and learning associated with the objective and any associated costs and resource implications Innovation and productivity will both be addressed through the increased adoption of hybrid learning that is, wherever appropriate, enabled by technology. Our new activity-based budget model will serve as an enabler for this objective, including improved time to completion in doctoralstream programs. Finally, increased access to professional certificates and diplomas provide a laddered approach to completing graduate degrees, offering students the skills needed for the labour market which they acquire in less time in the post-secondary system than would be required by sequential pursuit of a four-year baccalaureate degree and then graduate preparation for career-related skills and experiences. E. Any public policy tools that you need to achieve the objective We noted above that we hope we shall not require approval for new programs built on the foundations of existing programs while offering an additional credential. We would advocate the need for public policy tools that allow automatic approval in such circumstances. F. How this objective correlates to one or more of the governments principles and parameters for higher education This objective puts students first by focusing on choice, improving quality and flexibility, increasing mobility, and offering new and technologyenabled ways of learning; it meets the needs of the creative economy by ensuring relevance to the labour market and providing appropriate competencies for success in the workforce while building on the value of the academic skills of a liberal education and blending the classroom and the workplace; it focuses on productivity and sustainability by playing to our strengths and addressing the changing needs of our society.

Notes
1

See <www.queensu.ca/saptf/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Academic-Plan-for-SenatefinalNov22.pdf>

See Daniel Woolf, The Need for A Balanced Academy, Queens Alumni Review, Issue 3, 2010, pages 12-13 <queensu.ca/news/sites/default/files/QAR-2010-3.pdf> This statement is based on response data from the National Survey of Student Engagement for 2006, 2008 and 2011; for more information, see <www.queensu.ca/irp/accountability/surveys.html> 4 Strengthening Ontarios Centres of Creativity, Innovation and Knowledge, MTCU, June 2012 <www.tcu.gov.on.ca/pepg/publications/DiscussionStrengtheningOntarioPSE.pdf>
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Universities and Employment: Whose Job is it, Anyway? Higher Education Strategy Associates One Thought

A university degrees value is incontestable, Jeffrey Simpson, The Globe and Mail, July 20, 2012 <www.theglobeandmail.com/commentary/a-university-degrees-value-is-incontestable/article4428537/>
7

Blog, May 29, 2012 <higheredstrategy.com/blog/page/5/>

See <www.queensu.ca/saptf/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Academic-Plan-for-SenatefinalNov22.pdf> See <http://www.queensu.ca/vpr/SRP/SRPMay2012Final.pdf> See <iatq.ca/> See <www.queensu.ca/irp/accountability/CUDO/CUDO2011/SectionE.html>

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Winning by degrees: the strategies of highly productive higher-education institutions, Byron Auguste et alia, McKinsey and Company, November 2010 <mckinseyonsociety.com/winning-by-degrees/> 12 See also <www.queensu.ca/irp/accountability/regcompliance/osap/gradrate.html>, which shows how well Queens graduation rate compares to the provincial average These data were provided by Assistant Deputy Minister Nancy Naylor in her September 18,2012, memo to university executive heads on the topic of Ontario Student Loan default rates Queens began offering correspondence courses in 1889 when its Senate gave approval to students who could not attend classes to write the final exam, as long as they completed assignments by mail; a fuller history is provided at <www.queensu.ca/encyclopedia/c/continuinganddistancestudies.html> 15 A recent example is the accelerated pathway to an MD program, which requires only two years undergraduate study. For further details, see <meds.queensu.ca/blog/?p=1878> 16 There is no shortage of commentary attesting to the importance for employability of the skills associated with the type of high-quality liberal education we offer at Queens. A variety of sources can be found at <www.aacu.org/leap/public_opinion_research.cfm> and see also Jeff Selingo, Skills Gaps? Employers and Colleges Point Fingers at Each Other, The Chronicle of Higher Education, September 12, 2012 <chronicle.com/blogs/next/2012/09/12/skills-gap-employers-and-colleges-point-fingers-at-each-other/> 17 For a story about one recent Queens graduate who took this route, see Congratulationsnow what? Queens Alumni Review, Issue 3, 2012 <www.queensu.ca/news/alumnireview/congratulations-now-what> 18 See <www.queensu.ca/news/articles/engineering-and-commerce-students-collaborate-through-innovative-program>
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19

See <www.cityofkingston.ca/pdf/council/agenda/2011/COU_A0511-11048.pdf> See <www.cafce.ca/en/coop-defined> See <www.queensu.ca/discover/queenskingston>

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21

The Path Forward: The Future of Graduate Education in the United States, Educational Testing Service and Council of Graduate Schools, April 2010 <www.fgereport.org/rsc/pdf/CFGE_report.pdf> This information comes from Key Post-secondary Trends in Ontario University Sector, a presentation by Deputy Minister Deborah Newman to the Council of Ontario Universities, December 8, 2011
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Appendix A We see all three priority objectives as benefiting students (undergraduate and graduate) through the creative design and delivery of courses, programs and services, to achieve desirable learning and professional outcomes. We propose the following integrated approach to measuring progress on and facilitating assessment of the objectives. Through time we shall track: 1. Number and percentage of students participating in expanded credential offerings and experiential learning 2. Graduation rates and times-to-completion for expanded credential offerings 3. Origins and demographic characteristics of students participating in expanded credential offerings 4. Number, type and level of courses or learning activities offering experiential learning, and enrolment in these courses by program of study 5. Number and credential types of laddered and integrated undergraduate-to-graduate program offerings 6. Satisfaction and engagement levels for students participating in expanded credential offerings and experiential learning (NSSE, our exit poll of graduating students, etc.) 7. Assessment of expanded credential offerings and experiential learning (graduate outcomes survey) This will all be situated within the context of our overriding goal of a balanced academy, which will be assessed by measuring our success in maintaining and improving the student learning experience in the context of a research-intensive setting.

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A1