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Strategic Priorities Consultation Survey #1 Results 2013

Institutional Planning & Analysis

Analyst Name: Stephanie Klassen

Date: October 24, 2013

Prepared for: Strategic Priorities Advisory Committee

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Executive Summary This report contains a detailed statistical analysis of the results to the survey titled Thompson Rivers University Strategic Priorities Consultation Survey. The results analysis includes answers from all respondents who took the survey in the 8 day period from Wednesday, October 16, 2013 to Wednesday, October 23, 2013. 1700 completed responses were received to the survey during this time.

Respondent Profile

Of those that responded to the survey, 42% reported being a student, 22% reported as being a TRU alumni, 13% reported as being a faculty member, 10% reported as being a staff member, 7% reported as being a community member and 5% reported as being an administrative member. Twenty-five percent of respondents indicated that they have been affiliated with TRU for more than 10 years, while 17% indicated that they have been affiliated with TRU for less than 1 year.

Top 7 Strategic Priorities

1. Flexible course and program delivery 2. Student engagement 3. Innovative and accessible academic programming 4. Partnerships with educational institutions, communities, and the private sector 5. Learning and teaching innovation 6. Professional development 7. Life-long learning

A total of 788 additional potential strategic priorities were provided by respondents. Those responses were analyzed for theme, and the top 3 potential strategic priority themes are including in the following summary. The addition of the potential strategic priority counts to the original strategic priorities did not change the top 7 overall priorities.

Top 3 Potential Strategic Priority Themes

1. Course and program expansion and development 2. Experiential learning 3. Affordable education

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Table of Contents Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 1

Top 7 Strategic Priorities ............................................................................................................................... 3

Top 7 Strategic Priorities by Group ........................................................................................................... 3

Percentage by Group that Chose the Top 7 Strategic Priorities ................................................................ 4

Potential Strategic Priority Themes .............................................................................................................. 6

Respondent Profile ....................................................................................................................................... 8

Appendices .................................................................................................................................................... 9

Appendix A ................................................................................................................................................ 9

Appendix B .............................................................................................................................................. 10

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Top 7 Strategic Priorities Graph 1.0 Top 7 Strategic Priorities

All Strategic Priorities and their percentage of all respondents are available in Appendix A. Respondents were asked to choose seven priorities from the list.

Top 7 Strategic Priorities by Group Table 1.0 Top 7 Strategic Priorities by Group

Column1All

respondents Students AlumniFaculty

memberStaff

memberCommunity

member Administration Other

Strategic Priorities n=1700 n=710 n=381 n=215 n=166 n=127 n=78 n=18Flexible course and program delivery #1 #1 #1 - #2 #2 #2 #1Student engagement #2 #5 #5 #1 #1 #5 #3 #3Innovative and accessible academic programming #3 #3 #3 #3 #3 #3 #1 -Partnerships with educational institutions, communities, and the private sector

#4 #4 #2 - #4 #1 #5 #6

Learning and teaching innovation #5 #2 #4 #2 #6 #7 #4 #2Professional development #6 #6 #7 #4 #5 - - -Life-long learning #7 #7 #6 - #7 #4 #7 #7Aboriginal, local and global understanding - - - #5 - - #6 #4Research, scholarly, and creative capacity - - - #6 - - - -Research-informed education - - - #7 - - - -Community-relevant research - - - - - #6 - -Innovation and entrepreneurship - - - - - - - #5

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Percentage by Group that Chose the Top 7 Strategic Priorities Table 2.0 Priority #1

Table 2.1 Priority #2


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Potential Strategic Priority Themes Graph 2.0 Potential Strategic Priority Themes

A total of 788 potential strategic priorities were provided by respondents in question #2. Responses were analyzed for theme, and are illustrated in Graph 2.0 in order of greatest count to the least count. Responses that fell within the original strategic priorities that were listed in question #1 have been indicated with a red bar.

Brief definitions of the Strategic Priority themes are available in Appendix B.

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Table 3.0 Potential Strategic Priority Themes

Brief definitions of the Strategic Priority themes are available in Appendix B.

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Respondent Profile Graph 3.0 Current Affiliations with TRU

Table 4.0 Current Affiliation with TRU

Graph 4.0 Length of Time Affiliated with TRU

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Appendices

Appendix A A1. All Strategic Priorities Graph

A2. All Strategic Priorities Table

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Appendix B B1. Potential Strategic Priority Theme Definitions

Thematic analysis was performed by Institutional Planning and Analysis (IPA) to examine themes within the data provided in question #2 of the first Strategic Priorities survey and was subject to IPA’s interpretation. IPA spent time becoming familiar with the data, generated initial themes among the qualitative responses, identified responses categorized under a theme, reviewed, defined and named the themes. Definitions in point form for each theme are available below.

Aboriginal, local and global understanding • Cultural integration, priorities related to aboriginal students, priorities related to international

students, campus diversity, study abroad Academic excellence

• Academic reputation, improvement in rankings, school of choice, Canadian/International recognition

Affordable education

• Lower tuition, student debt Alumni engagement

• Keeping alumni engaged, alumni connection Atmosphere

• Sense of community, friendly, welcoming, support, communication, one TRU, school pride, collegiality

Campus infrastructure, facilities and space

• Upgrading existing, building new, safe transportation around campus Course and program expansion and development

• More opportunity for post-graduate study, development of courses/programs/schools, expansion of courses/programs, more courses/programs, new courses/programs, specialized programs, focus on programs

Employee engagement

• Employee engagement Employee excellence

• Improvement in management, employer of choice, excellent customer service, great work place Excellence in student services

• Academic advising, improvement in disability services, improvement in registration process, longer library hours, support to Open Learning students

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Experiential learning

• Hands on experience, career development, employable graduates, skills training, coop education, industry relevant skills

Financial

• Budget cuts, increase resources for teachers, fundraising Flexible course and program delivery

• Distance learning, courses available all year round, open access Health and wellness

• Social wellbeing of students, mental and physical wellness, smoking cessation, exercising Innovation and entrepreneurship

• Entrepreneurship Innovative and accessible academic programming

• Honours programs, adaption, academic integrity, comprehensive programs, personalized learning, program quality

Learning and teaching innovation

• Advances in teaching, advances in learning techniques, cutting edge technology used for teaching and learning

Open access, open education

• Education accessible to everyone Partnerships with educational institutions, communities, and the private sector

• Community service, links to future employment Professional development

• Life planning, managing goals and expectations Research, scholarly, and creative capacity

• Capacity for staff to conduct research, improve research culture within the university, less research

Research-informed education

• Ability to find, synthesize and create knowledge Scholarships, student aid and grants

• More scholarships for students, more comprehensive financial aid options, funding for athletes School pride based on academic and athletic excellence

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• Increasing student quality, school pride, sports motivation Services on campus

• Child care, affordable housing, lower parking fees, affordable food services Student engagement

• Small class size, student faculty engagement, more student clubs, student communication Sustainability including environmental, cultural, social and financial

• Going green, leadership in sustainability, green initiatives on campus Teaching and research excellence

• Attracting and retaining high calibre faculty, instructor training, more faculty, encourage learning

TRU brand development

• Brand protection, brand reputation, marketing and public relations

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