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Health And Wellness, Society and Culture, Science and Technology


U OF A SETS SIGHTS ON HIGHER ENROLMENT, STRONGER GLOBAL IMPACT

The university’s new strategic plan lays out a 10-year vision with impact at its
core.

September 19, 2023 By Sean Townsend

The U of A's new strategic plan builds on the successes the university has
achieved over its 115-year history and charts a course for action over the next
10 years. (Photo: Richard Siemens)

Growing the University of Alberta’s enrolment to 60,000 students within the next
10 years is at the heart of an aspirational strategic plan to expand the global
impact of the province’s flagship post-secondary institution over the next
decade.

Shape: The University Strategic Plan 2023-2033 builds on the successes the
university has achieved over its 115-year history and charts a course for action
across the three pillars of its mission: education, research and community
engagement.

“Our strategic plan outlines a bold and determined vision that will propel the
University of Alberta to even greater heights,” said U of A president Bill
Flanagan at a launch event today at the Timms Centre for the Arts.

“With this plan as our guide, over the next decade we will shape futures by
educating with purpose. We will shape ideas by being purposeful in our research.
And we will shape trust by engaging meaningfully with our communities, partners
and the people who make up the University of Alberta.”





BOOSTING ENROLMENT, RISING IN RANKINGS

The university aims to expand enrolment by more than 35 per cent — from 44,000
students now to 50,000 by 2026 and 60,000 within the next 10 years, according to
the plan. The shift is needed to meet the challenges of a growing young
population and rising demand, noted Flanagan.

“This represents an additional 16,000 students — 6,000 of whom will be
international students from around the world,” he said, adding that more than
half of those international students will likely stay in Alberta after
graduating, "contributing to a growing and ever more diverse province.”

Increasing enrolment at this scale could generate a projected $400 million in
new annual revenue for the university, which would be targeted to strategic
investments in teaching and research, “including hiring the faculty and staff we
will need to ensure an outstanding learning experience for all of our students,”
Flanagan said.

In tandem with this planned growth, the strategy calls for continuing the
university’s upward trajectory in global rankings, setting an ambitious goal of
ranking among the top 50 research universities in the world and among the top
three in Canada by 2033.

This year, the U of A placed 91st in the world and fourth in Canada in the
Academic Ranking of World Universities — its best performance in the history of
the influential rankings. It was ranked seventh in the world in Times Higher
Education’s 2023 Impact Rankings of universities making progress toward the
United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. And it was ranked the
best place in Canada to study nursing and petroleum engineering according to the
2023 QS World University Rankings by Subject, with 18 subjects ranking among the
global top 100.


FOCUSING ON RESEARCH PRIORITIES

The plan identifies three priority research areas in which the university has
proved to be a global leader: energy and the environment, artificial
intelligence, and health and well-being.

On the energy front, the U of A is home to Future Energy Systems, a research
group developing innovative technologies in biomass, hydrogen fuel cells,
geothermal, solar, wind and smart grids. Last month, deputy director Amit Kumar,
a leading expert on energy systems and key contributor to Alberta’s Hydrogen
Roadmap, was named Canada Research Chair in Assessment of Energy Systems.

The university has been a leader in artificial intelligence since establishing
Canada’s first computing science department in 1964 and now ranks second in
Canada for AI research, according to the U.S. News Best Global Universities for
Artificial Intelligence. The U of A’s broad base of expertise continues to
expand with new faculty members and Canada CIFAR AI Chairs shaping the impact of
the rapidly evolving technology and examining its ethical implications. 

The U of A’s globally recognized contributions to health research include
advances in diagnosis and treatment for hepatitis B and C, vaccines and
antiviral drugs against COVID-19 and other viruses, and women and children’s
health research. Since 2010, the university has been home to the Li Ka Shing
Institute of Virology, which brings together world-leading researchers including
founding director Lorne Tyrrell and 2020 Nobel laureate Michael Houghton,
director of the Li Ka Shing Applied Virology Institute.

“Over the next decade we will increase multidisciplinary research, develop
innovations that address some of the world’s most pressing challenges, and
increase representation and success among researchers from historically
under-represented and equity-deserving groups,” said provost Verna Yiu, who led
the steering committee that oversaw the plan’s development.


GROWING OPPORTUNITIES FOR GLOBAL IMPACT

The strategic plan also notes three areas in which the university is making
major contributions with the potential for global impact within the next decade:
Indigenous research, agriculture and food, and social transformations — all of
which will also be guided by other institutional strategies including the
Braiding Past, Present and Future: Indigenous Strategic Plan, the Institutional
Strategic Plan for Research and Innovation and the Strategic Plan for Equity,
Diversity and Inclusivity.

Flanagan said the U of A’s reorganization of its academic faculties into three
colleges in 2021 — the first post-secondary model of its kind in Canada — will
give researchers more opportunities to collaborate with peers in other
disciplines.

“Leveraging our new college structure, we will develop and deliver programs that
transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries,” he added.


A COLLECTIVE VISION

“[The plan] reflects the collective efforts and thoughtful feedback of
innumerable faculty, staff and students along with a broad cross-section of
alumni, community, industry and government partners,” notes Flanagan in his
preface to the strategic plan.

“People are our greatest strength and they are at the very heart of what we do,”
said Yiu.

“To make lasting, meaningful impacts on people’s lives, we must take intentional
steps to support the people of our university and create a culture where
everyone can achieve their full potential,” she added.

“We have a commitment to build a university of tomorrow for students, educators,
researchers, alumni and community partners, here in Alberta and around the
world. And this plan will get us there.”

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RELATED STORIES:

 * Braiding past, present and future: U of A launches Indigenous-led strategic
   plan
 * U of A improves on global and national standing in latest Academic Ranking of
   World Universities
 * ‘Economic engine’: U of A contributes $19.4 billion a year to Alberta’s
   economy
 * U of A ranked seventh in the world for impact on sustainability


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