The Dean’s Office released the final and complete report on Vision 2010 to the Engineering Student body on November 19th. The Vision 2010 Plan was ambitiously aimed to develop Waterloo Engineering as Canada’s premier engineering school. From 2004 to 2006, the Faculty underwent a comprehensive planning exercise, engaging in self-study, analysis and external reviews. The plan was established to come to completion in 2010. The final report released by the Dean’s Office includes the goals and accomplishments of the faculty over the last five years.
Planning for Vision 2010 began in the summer of 2004. The idea behind the plan was to improve the quality of education, expand the undergraduate and graduate programs, increase research, and improve the image of UW Engineering. Each department conducted a self-study and underwent an external review to determine where it needed improvement and support. Each faculty unit (including undergraduate studies, graduate studies, and research) also performed a self-assessment and developed various recommendations for ways in which it could improve. This evaluation, in conjunction with the University image and development goals from UW’s Sixth Decade Plan, was used to establish the goals and performance indicators for Vision 2010.
The first of these goals was to limit undergraduate enrolment and to attract the best students to come to the University. One way of achieving this was to improve the scholarship opportunities for incoming students (such as the President’s Award for students with an incoming average of 90+). Between 2004 and 2009, the number of incoming students increased from 1,294 students (2004) to 1,464 students (2008). The plan also called for a special focus on the recruitment of international students and women for undergraduate studies. However, during the course of the plan, it was found that the percentage of women in the student body has decreased.
The second goal was to enrich the quality of the undergraduate experience, mainly by increasing the flexibility of the curriculum, promoting undergraduate research, and working on the quality of teaching aids and equipment. This was achieved by tracking student success rates and increasing the number of Undergraduate Research Assistantships (URAs). This goal also included improving communication between the student body and the Dean’s Office. This was achieved through the newly-created position of Student Relations Officer. This new position is responsible for ensuring open communication between the Dean’s Office and the students, including the student teams, EngSoc, and other engineering student groups.
The third goal was to enhance the co-op experience for students. This involved working on improving the jobs available to students, especially those outside of Canada. At the same time, it also meant developing and improving the Professional Development Program so that students would receive a more positive learning experience. The employment rate of students going on co-op was able to remain consistently around 97%, even though between the 2005/2006 and 2009/2010 academic years, the number of students who went on co-op increased from 5,433 to 6,551.
The fourth and final goal of the Vision 2010 Plan was to improve the Undergraduate Student Experience. One way this was to be achieved was to promote the exchange programs available to students in hopes of increasing the number of students that go through the exchange program each year. Between 2005 and 2010, the number of students coming to Waterloo for exchange or going abroad went from 219 to 307. The Vision 2010 plan originally aimed to encourage 15% of the student cohort to participate in exchange annually; however, outgoing student participation has only reached 58% of this goal.
These are only a few of the main goals covered in the overall plan. Both the Strategic Plan for Vision 2010 and the Vision 2010 Final Report can be found at www.engineering.uwaterloo.ca/Vision2010.The strategic plan is 164 pages long while the final report is 116 pages. There are a lot more details in the report covering the other areas of focus such as research, outreach and finances. It also includes reports from each department within the faculty regarding the improvements made within them. I encourage everyone to check out the sections which are relevant to them.
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