I am sharing an update on the Strategic Plan deliverable, “Create a pan-institutional strategic partnerships framework that articulates how BCIT can most effectively initiate and coordinate interactions with industry and sectoral partners.” This important work supports our commitment to enrich partner and industry experiences at BCIT.
Departments across BCIT partner with many external entities in different ways and for different reasons. While we have many successful collaborations, we believe that we can improve coordination and communication between departments to leverage the full potential of our partnerships for the benefit of BCIT as a whole. We are hoping that the framework we are developing will shed some light on existing partnership pathways, make recommendations for internal coordination, and open new opportunities.
To date, we have conducted an external review of peer institutions to draw lessons from their partnership management structure, how external partners discover and engage with them, and the types of collaborations they offer. We are now embarking on an internal review to reach a better understanding of what we currently do and where our partnerships live so we can de-silo our approach and create a better experience for our partners.
At their core, our partnerships will always drive student success and open opportunities for our students – be that through Work Integrated Learning, academic exchange, or philanthropic donations to name just a few examples. Our students are what attracts external parties to work with us, and our alumni are key to the success of those partners.
If you work with partners in your role and you have thoughts and ideas to share on how we can better leverage our partnerships and collaborate internally, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Thank you,
Britta Schmidt
External Relations Advisor, Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships
Commitment: Enrich Partner and Industry Experiences
Initiative: Connect in a culture of change
Deliverable: Create a pan-institutional strategic partnerships strategy that articulates how BCIT can most effectively initiate and coordinate interactions with industry and sectoral partners.