Shayan Sharif

Department of PathobiologyOntario Veterinary College

Vision for the Office of Graduate & Post-doctoral Studies

Credentials• DVM (Tehran)• PhD (Guelph)• PDF (Western Ontario, The John Robarts Institute)

Experience and accomplishments• Full Professor since 2011• Pfizer Award for Research Excellence• Vice Chair- Pathobiology• Acting ADRI – OVC• Research Program Director – OMAFRA Partnerships with UofG• Mentorship of over 60 HQP• Over $10 million in research grants (industry, government)• Over 130 papers • Editor-in-Chief of the top journal in Veterinary Immunology• Evaluation Group member for NSERC Discovery grants

Leadership• Leader- Poultry Health Research Network (phrn.net, Twitter: PHRN_)• Leader - Multi-institutional research team: Biology and control of AIV• Leader – Network for studies of climate change impact on animal

health and production• Leader – Vaccine development for control of poultry diseases in the

developing countries• Animal Health Informatics Collaborative Graduate Program

University-wide initiatives• Strategic Renewal • Food from Thought • Strategic Research Plan• Precision Agriculture (Smart Animal Health Management)

Strategic Renewal

Vision for Graduate Studies at the University of Guelph

• Synergy between Graduate Studies and University’s research enterprise and administration

• Enrolment targets

• Quality of education

• Student experience

• Skills development

Vision for Graduate Studies at the University of Guelph

Propose to create a task force to engage the University community including faculty, student, staff and leadership.

Mandate

“Hear”, “Analyze” and “Advise”:• Institutional aspirations • Variables and barriers• Performance indicators• Differentiators of UofG programs • Solutions

0 5 10 15 20

Western

McMaster

Toronto

Carleton

Victoria

Simon Fraser

Waterloo

Guelph

Percentage % of graduate student enrolment to total student enrolment

Graduate student enrolment

Variables and barriers• Capacity (physical space, faculty DOE)• Government policies• Culture within units• Competition locally and globally• Demographics• Economic trends• How many enquire and how many apply?• How many met the requirements?• How many were offered admission?• How many accepted?• What funding models?

Vision for Graduate Studies at the University of Guelph:A case for operational intelligence

Variables and barriers• Capacity (physical space, faculty DOE)• Government policies• Culture within Colleges and departments• Competition locally and globally• Demographics• Economic trends• How many enquire and how many apply?• How many meet the requirements?• How many are offered admission?• How many accept?• What funding models?

Vision for Graduate Studies at the University of Guelph:A case for operational intelligence

Source: Establishing realistic enrolment goals- A white paper produced by Strategic Enrolment Management

How many, how often, where?

What happened?

Where exactly is the problem?

What actions are needed?

Source: Establishing realistic enrolment goals- A white paper produced by Strategic Enrolment Management

Empowering the decision making process with Data

Reactive decision making

Std.Reports

Ad hocReports

Query Drilldown

Alerts

ProactivedecisionmakingWhat’s the best that can happen?

What will happen next?

What if these trends continue?

Why is this happening?

Optimization

StatisticalAnalysis

Forecasting

PredictiveModeling

The progression from reactive decisionmaking to proactive decision making.

Degree of Intelligence

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Meeting enrolment targets while propelling the research enterprise

• Identify disciplines/areas of growth Food from Thought

• Empower disciplines

• Marketing strategies (resources)

• Integration of undergraduate students into research programs – from Yr1?

• Proactive recruitment: cultivate the best and the brightest 3rd and 4th year

UofG students

• Active recruitment of top PhD scholars (e.g. by competitive funding)

• Funding role of industry partners, AA&D and Catalyst Center

Meeting enrolment targets while propelling the research enterprise

• Combined Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees (4+1 or 3+1 model)

• “Chimeric” Master’s + diploma degrees

• Doctoral stream master’s enrolment

• Hybrid programs (on campus + online) --- SFU and UT

• Innovative interdisciplinary collaborative programs (e.g.

Precision Agriculture, Digital Humanities, Animal Health

Informatics etc…) funded through CREATE or similar programs

• Increase diversity

• Aboriginal students

• International students

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Western

McMaster

Toronto

Carleton

Victoria

Simon Fraser

Waterloo

Guelph

Percentage % of international student enrolment to total graduate student enrolment

International graduate student enrolment

Source: Resource Planning and Analysis, University of Guelph

Differentiators

Performance indicators

Current indicators: Graduation rate, employment and OSAP default

Other performance indicators to consider:

• Learning outcomes (OCAV expectations: depth & breadth, research & scholarship, application of knowledge, professional capacity, communications skills, awareness of limits of knowledge)

• Student experience (accessibility, satisfaction with quality of education, mentorship, environment): Graduate and Professional Student Survey

• Soft skills development and job readiness

Skills development

• Collaborative interdisciplinary graduate programs collaborative

courses promoting cross fertilization

• Career counselling

• Career days role of alumni database for tracking alumni

• Experiential learning opportunities (Future of the PhD in humanities)

• Mygradskills.ca and skills development seminar series, bootcamps

• Stakeholder/employer engagement

• Internship opportunities (OCE, Mitacs and others)

• Entrepreneurship CBaSE and ABCInnovate

• Community engaged scholarship model

Outcomes driven funding model

“We are currently preparing students for jobs that don’t yet exist . . . using technologies that haven’t yet been invented . . . in order to solve problems we don’t even know are problems yet.”

The Jobs Revolution: Changing How America Works

Richard Riley