With the success of Vision 2010, the Waterloo Engineering faculty has raised its expectations for Vision 2015: Building on Excellence. The ambitious new plan aims to maintain “our trajectory of excellence and finding ways to constantly innovate and improve”. The plan outline covers faculty, staff, undergraduate studies, graduate studies, research and more. We will discuss several points, but for an appreciation of the entire Vision 2015 plan we suggest taking a look at it on the university website.
Possibly the most significant change of Vision 2015 for undergraduate students will be associated with the development and implementation of a new engineering undergraduate program. The department of Systems Design engineering plans to create a Biomedical Engineering program by 2014. The aim of program is to graduate students with skills related to the design and application of biomedical systems to solve health-related engineering problems. The specifics of what will be included in this new program have not been detailed.
Another clear change to undergraduate studies will be the revamping of our co-op system. Currently most programs include six four-month co-op terms, while nanotechnology engineering has two eight-month work terms. There are plans to make one eight-month work term available in each of the undergraduate programs, since employers would prefer to have senior students become more involved in their projects. Whether these eight month terms will be optional or mandatory has not been specified. In addition, a plan to introduce two-term jobs for junior students is being considered for implementation. Many employers have indicated that it would be preferential to hire the same student for both their first and second work terms, since this would eliminate the time and resources required for training a second student.
In order to ensure that students are given access to more contemporary and innovative tools, the university is investing $8.5M to the Vision 2015 Undergraduate Laboratory Enhancement Initiative. These funds, spread over five years, will be used to upgrade teaching equipment and laboratories in first-year labs, as well as to improve on the experimental curricula already in place. In addition to revamping current labs, new labs will be placed in two new engineering buildings: Engineering 7 and Engineering 8. These two buildings, in addition to a draft of Engineering 9 only seen in an illustration, have been planned for construction east and north of E5. In addition to these new buildings, the renovation of the DWE C-Wing will provide even more lab space. The combined $120M of the projects will be financed by the university and faculty, government sources and private funding.
In the past several years, the size of the Faculty of Engineering has increased drastically with the introduction of Mechatronics, Management and Nanotechnology engineering programs. Vision 2015 calls for stabilization of the student body size, citing a potential increase in undergraduate student intake of approximately 3.5%. In addition to changing student body size, the university aims to increase faculty members who are licensed professional engineers for ongoing accreditation. This is a continuation of Vision 2010, by promoting faculty to register when they become eligible. The expected growth is from the current 78% registered to 86% by 2015.
The infamous stereotype of gender ratios in engineering has also been accounted for in Vision 2015. The university plans to tackle the issue with ongoing outreach programs such as Guide Badge Day to allow girl guides to acquire the GoEngGirl badge. The university intends to raise the confirmation rate of female offers into Waterloo Engineering from where it currently sits at 11% below that of male offers. The university has also initiated CATALYST, a program meant to expose the engineering profession and university student life to female grade 11 students. The undergraduate student engagement survey analysis will approach statistical data by gender to better understand the experience of women in engineering at Waterloo. The new female dean of engineering will likely be a great support to the initiative.
This is just a summary of several key points from the Vision 2015 Waterloo engineering faculty plan. For a detailed understanding of some points mentioned or into other portions of the plan we suggest reading the document at http://uwaterloo.ca/engineering/about/strategic-planning/vision-2015. Vision 2015 also includes details in statistics and planned changes regarding specific departments in the engineering faculty. It seems the only negative aspect of Vision 2015 is the fact that many of us will not be around to enjoy and appreciate the change. It makes you almost want to get a second degree in biomedical engineering after finishing your initial engineering degree!
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