With a new fiscal year well underway, I’m writing today to provide a recap of our FY22 Strategic Plan accomplishments, and to introduce you to the year ahead.
The BCIT Strategic Plan articulates three commitments that represent our core areas of activity and accountability to our students, faculty, staff, and partners. We are intent on being a people-focused organization that delivers future-proof applied education, amplifying our impact through globally relevant connections. These commitments create the structure of our Strategic Plan through nine initiatives.
During year three of implementation, we continued to make significant progress towards each of our commitments—through 27 deliverables—while acknowledging our fiscal and operational constraints. Progress on each of the deliverables is reported to faculty and staff via the bi-weekly Strategic Plan Implementation Update emails. These updates can be viewed within the actions tab of the Strategic Plan website.
Highlights from FY22
While our year-end summary and FY22 Q4 report provide more detail on our progress, we’d like to celebrate a few FY22 highlights with you.
Commitment 1: People-focused organization
- Launched BCIT’s first People Vision, demonstrating our clear and consistent commitment to our people.
- Advanced student, staff, and faculty capacity in improving student wellbeing and resilience through the expansion of services offered by the Student Life Office, enabling more timely support from the Early Assist team; an evening counselling pilot; and an extensive communication campaign.
- Made initial improvements to BCIT’s budget, forecasting, and reporting processes, and strengthened alignment between enrolment and tuition projections. This has enabled better informed decisions and more accurate forecasts, while minimizing duplication of effort.
Commitment 2: Future-proof applied education
- Launched 22 microcredentials that align with industry needs, the economy, and learner appetite for accelerated and focused educational experiences.
- Celebrated the highest results in the history of the BCIT Foundation, raising $22.5M in FY22. Funds raised through the INSPIRE Campaign now total $102M.
- Significantly advanced the Campus Development Plan: BCIT completed development of the Health Sciences Centre to open in Summer 2022; the Tall Timber Student Housing project completing tendering with construction starting in Fall 2022; and announced the Trades & Technology Complex, following a $136.6M investment from the Province.
Commitment 3: Globally relevant connections
- Achieved the highest Indigenous enrolment to date, representing an increase of 14% over FY21.
- Deepened industry connections by targeting sectors – including forestry, engineering, mining, construction, and electrical trades – and engaging executives in roundtable discussions, resulting in more than $20M in funding support and an exciting research partnership.
- Continued implementation of the Strategic Enrolment Management (SEM) Plan. We conducted a pilot to define program entrance requirements that align part-time programs to their full-time equivalents, and prepare students for success. We also developed successful applicant profile statements for competitive programs to focus recruitment efforts and foster transparency in candidate selection.
Year 4 Priorities
While 21 deliverables comprise our Year 4 Strategic Implementation Plan, we are amplifying our efforts in six particular areas given the current context:
- Implementation of our People Vision
- Work-integrated and agile learning
- Enrolment management
- Technology revitalization
- Campus development
- Industry engagement
As a community, we’re all accountable for advancing the Strategic Plan, and the progress over the past three years is a reflection of our collective efforts. Thank you for your continued support and look to the bi-weekly Strategic Plan Implementation Updates to follow our progress.
Sincerely,
Allison Rugge
Implementation Lead, BCIT Strategic Plan