Academic Plan 2027
The aspirational statements that follow each main objective in the draft plan were developed from the consultative meetings in Fall 2023. They are intended to guide, rather than direct our actions.
Goal A: Improve Student Success and Engagement
By 2027 KPU will have made demonstrable progress towards the provision of proactive supports for students, including a comprehensive mental health strategy. Access and support will be foregrounded in our admissions processes and will aim to assist and support a diverse range of learners in coming to KPU. UDL and Supported Learning course will have been designated and made identifiable and transparent to students. We will continue to innovate with delivery modalities such as enquiry-based learning, that facilitate decolonization and Indigenization. Flexible program pathways and pacing will be introduced where possible. Supports for BIPOC students, 2SLGBTQIA+ students, and students from equity-denied communities will be provided and students will have opportunities to engage in anti-racism and decolonization work through a variety of university-wide initiatives, built upon the Accessibility Plan, the Anti-Racism Task Force Report, and the xéʔelɬ Pathways Framework. Our culture of academic integrity will be built around the twin pillars of reciprocity and respect.
Students at KPU will have been provided with meaningful global educational opportunities, as well as increased opportunities for research and mentorship, including in key areas such as climate change and sustainability. Students will be provided opportunities to undertake internships, practica, and other forms of work integrated learning. Internationalization at KPU will be a holistic process that recruits, retains, and supports a diverse international student base. As a part of our commitment to lifelong learning, KPU will build programming and facilitate access for mid-career and mature learners, while engaging actively with the university’s own retired community of staff, faculty, and administrators
Key Actions:
A1
Providing proactive supports, including accessibility supports, for all KPU students in our admissions processes and our program pathways, including a comprehensive mental health strategy
A2
Providing opportunities for students to engage in decolonization and anti-racism work
A3
Providing global educational opportunities and internships/practica to all KPU students
A4
Expanding mentorship, applied research opportunities, and internships/practica for all KPU students, including opportunities focused on climate, sustainability, and other key initiatives
A5
Facilitating access and developing pathways for mid-career and mature learners
A6
Expanding innovative program delivery methods that facilitate decolonization and Indigenization
Goal B: Improve Faculty, Staff, and Administrative Success and Engagement
By 2027 KPU will have made demonstrable progress towards supporting faculty professional development and celebrating faculty achievements. We will have developed innovative approaches to support and encourage faculty service. Hiring, onboarding, and ongoing training will be provided equitably and consistently across the institution. KPU will have expanded its support for research-informed teaching, encouraged the scholarship of teaching and learning, advanced new, applied graduate credentials, and expanded access to professional development in key areas such as anti-racism, cultural safety, decolonization, Indigenization, accessibility, and gender and sexual equity.
KPU will have expanded and made clear its polytechnic advantage by further developing initiatives such as experiential learning and applied research, and by continuing to enhance its role as a leader in open education. We will have reconfigured our campuses spaces – both physical and online – to foreground community, engagement, sustainability, and multidisciplinarity, as well as recognizing the requirements of our faculty and programs. We will have increased opportunities to participate in internationalization initiatives and KPU will be a place where we allow our Deans and Associate Deans to become creative, proactive leaders.
Key Actions:
B1
Championing equitable and consistent hiring, onboarding, and training opportunities to all members of the KPU community
B2
Expanding support for research-informed teaching and the scholarship of teaching and learning
B3
Expanding access to professional development in key areas including, but not limited to, anti-racism, cultural safety, decolonization and Indigenization, accessibility, and gender and sexual equity
B4
Expanding KPU’s role as a leader in open education
B5
Increasing opportunities to participate in internationalization initiatives
Goal C: Expand and Promote Experiential Learning and Scholarship
By 2027 we will consider learning outside the classroom and in simulated practical settings to be equally as valuable as in-class learning. KPU will have increased the number and quality of community and industry partnerships, recognizing that our students benefit greatly from learning in our communities. Every KPU student will have been given the opportunity to undertake some form of work integrated or applied learning or internship. Sampler courses in the Faculty of Trades and Technology will allow students across the KPU community to gain hands-on experience in for-credit courses
We will provide consistent support for faculty-student research initiatives and will build connections across Faculties and with the Office of Research Services. KPU will have developed two applied graduate degrees which embed the core principles of anti-racism, experiential learning, decolonization, Indigenization, and sustainability from the outset. Program review will ensure that applied and work integrated learning and scholarship is effectively integrated into our existing programs.
Key Actions:
C1
Expanding opportunities for learning outside the classroom, in nature, and in simulated practical settings
C2
Increasing the number and quality of community and industry partnerships
C3
Providing work-integrated learning opportunities to all KPU students
C4
Promoting for-credit sampler courses in the Faculty of Trades and Technology
C5
Providing consistent support for faculty-student research initiatives
C6
Developing new community initiatives that support decolonization and Indigenization
Goal D: Update and Futureproof the Curriculum
By 2027 KPU will have made demonstrable progress towards revising its programs and curriculum in such a way as to foreground anti-racism, decolonization, equity, inclusion, accessibility, Indigenization, and sustainability. The university will continue to identify the systems that perpetuate colonialism and will have begun the transformation of those systems. The priorities identified in the xéʔelɬ Pathways Framework will be integrated within every new program. KPU’s Department of Indigenous Studies will be fully supported and resourced, and the university will have developed new global and community initiatives that support decolonization and Indigenization. An anti-racism and decolonizing lens will be applied to every new and revised credential and program, including new initiatives in graduate studies.
Sustainability – environmental, academic, and social – will be a guiding principle in the development and revision of programs and courses at KPU. A focus on the climate crisis will be integrated into courses and programs across KPU. The KPU community will be actively engaged in responding to the potential inherent in generative AI, as well as its challenges.
Key Actions:
D1
Ensuring that the program and curricular development and revision process foregrounds the recommendations of the KPU Accessibility Plan, including anti-ableist pedagogy
D2
Integrating the priorities identified in the xéʔelɬ Pathways Framework into every new and existing program
D3
Applying an anti-racism lens to every new and revised credential and program, guided by the report of the Task Force on Anti-Racism
D4
Ensuring that gender and sexual equity are key considerations in all program and course development and revision
D5
Facilitating and prioritizing course and program development, including experiential learning, in the Department of Indigenous Studies
D6
Developing a comprehensive climate strategy to guide KPU’s policies, programs, and curriculum while ensuring that sustainability – environmental, social, and economic – is a guiding principle in the development and revision of all KPU programs
D7
Involving the entire KPU community in the creation of a broad-ranging institutional response to the potential and challenges of generative AI