Vancouver Island University’s 2022-27 Academic Plan, Weaving our Journey Together was approved by VIU’s Senate April 7, 2022. Embracing the inclusive and consultative approach used to create the institutional strategic plan, People, Place, Potential, the new academic plan was created as an aspirational guide to our academic future. This website introduces the new plan, describes the collaborative process that put it together, and describes the next steps.
The Academic Plan
Read VIU's Academic Plan The Academic Plan is building on the consultation completed for the Strategic Plan and VIU’s successes in the last four years. An Advisory Group drafted an Academic Plan proposing new goals, objectives, strategies, and tactics for 2021-2026. Through online and in-person consultations feedback was gathered and the plan has begun its approval process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Any faculty or service unit that needs or wants to engage in more detailed action/strategy planning and is not already doing so through a foundation plan or other planning process, can use this Area Plan template to help guide your discussions in creating your goals. The approval process for Area Plans is through the relevant VP/AVP. Don’t hesitate to see your Dean or Director for more information.
Now that Senate has approved the Academic Plan, VIU can begin the journey moving forward to implement it. The Goals and Objectives outlined in the Academic Plan are supported by an extensive selection of strategies and others may be developed over the implementation of the plan. Measurable objectives allow us to monitor the success of those strategies and determine if we are making progress toward our visionary goals. Most of these measures are already available in dashboards created through the Insight Portal maintained by the Office of University Planning and Analysis (OUPA).
The core of the Academic Plan is our Goals, Objectives, Strategies, and Tactics (GOST). GOST is a simple way to disentangle and nest the range of ideas that people bring to the planning process. Goals are big, directional descriptions of What we are doing and plan to do. Objectives are measurable milestones on the way to goals – these are the most important part of the plan because they let us know if we are making progress toward our ultimate goals. Strategies articulate How we are going to achieve our objectives, and Tactics are the individual things we need to do to make those strategies happen.
Areas are to undertake the strategies as identified in the Academic Plan and the Provost Office will support areas to understand and undertake the described strategies.
Senate will receive an annual report from the Provost on selected measurable objectives for each goal. Strategies will be reviewed and adjusted annually in response to reported measures and as new strategies are developed. A comprehensive review of Goals and Objectives for the Academic Plan will occur following revisions to the Strategic Plan.
This foundational Academic Plan began development shortly after the Strategic Plan was approved by VIU’s Board of Governors. Development began with the Provost’s review of the Strategic Plan, the previous Academic Plans, and the What We Heard Report. Seven high level areas of focus came to a Provost Council Retreat in April 2021. The Provost Council refined these into six goal statements and began to discuss measurable objectives and possible strategies. Members of the Provost Council nominated front-line employees from Faculties and educational support service areas to form an advisory group for the Academic Plan.
The advisory group met six times for a series of two-hour workshops between early May and mid-June of 2021 to develop and further refine the goals, objectives, and prioritize strategies. Material that was relevant to the other foundation plans was captured in reference documents for future development. Over July and August, the plan was refined for review by the advisory group and Provost Council before being reviewed with the broader VIU community of students and employees as well as key touch points in the community. Senate input to the plan was captured through consultation at the Senate retreat and discussion at the Senate Standing Committee for Planning and Priorities. Comments from VIU community members were solicited both through focused discussion and the use of a digital platform, Ethelo, to present the goals and objectives for feedback. In the consultation phase for the Academic Plan the VIU community and engaged stakeholders had the opportunity to review and comment on the goals, objectives, and strategies as well as to “workshop” these through focus groups. During focus groups, key questions addressed were: Are the objectives achievable? Are the strategies appropriately developed and assigned? Feedback was continuously integrated into the plan before it was reviewed by Provost Council and Senior Management Team in January 2022 and presented to Senate and Board of Governors in Spring 2022.
The Academic Plan builds on the plans of the past and on the community consultation undertaken as part of the Strategic Plan. Learn more about the first Academic Plan.