The Mandate Change Six Questions to Answer Mount Royal College
Jan 05, 2016
The Mandate Change
Six Questions to Answer
Mount Royal College
The Mandate ChangeSix Questions to Answer
1. What is it that Mount Royal is trying to do anyhow?
2. Why do we need another university in Alberta or Calgary?
3. Why can’t Mount Royal simply stay a college that offers degrees?
4. If Mount Royal becomes a university, how would it have to change?
(a) How are colleges different than universities?
(b) How would Mount Royal be a different university?
5. How much will it cost?
6. How would Mount Royal go about making this change take place?
Question 3
Why not a college that offers degrees?
The Outcomes of the Degree Experience
The value of the degree does not simply
come from the label – but from the
usefulness of the credential in helping both
employers and graduate or professional
schools in sorting out “applicants”.
The “currency” or usefulness of the degree comes from.. (a) the outcomes…
1. With restrictive entry requirements, does a “presorting” of degree participants… a “triage” for employers.
2. With a general liberal arts or sciences component, a degree assures a level of “foundational” knowledge.
3. With discipline or applied or professional focus on top of (2) above, provides specialized knowledge.
4. In a scholarly environment, the degree experience ensures the acquisition of research skills.
5. Interaction with other learners and scholars/faculty develops reasoning, learning, communication and intellectual skills.
And (b) from the “Degree Experience”
It has long been held that while the “curriculum” is important in achieving such degree outcomes that give it its value, it is equally important that the degree experience take place in a unique environment.
“Degree Experience” (con’t)
Primarily university level programs
Primarily “scholarly” (i.e. PhD) professors
Academically governed by scholars
Learning resources at the university level
AUCC
70%? of programming
70% of those teachers in university level programs have PhDs and a workload that reflects a balance of teaching / research / scholarship
“Bi-cameralism”
Investment in library
The “Degree Mobility” Spectrum
Low Mobility High Mobility
4-ye
ar B
acca
laur
eate
from
Col
lege
4-ye
ar A
pplie
d from
Colle
ge4-
year
Pro
fess
iona
l
from
Col
lege
3-ye
ar B
acca
laur
eate
from
Uni
vers
ity4-
year
Bac
cala
urea
te
from
Uni
vers
ity4-
year
App
lied
from
Univ
ersity
Prof
ession
al
Bacc
alau
reat
e from
Univ
ersity
Future Employment Flexibility?
Future Learning Flexibility?
College = non-AUCC, provincial “Colleges Act”University = AUCC, provincial “Universities Act”Mobility = transferability to future study & varied employment
Question 3
Why not a college that offers degrees?
• Answer: Mount Royal must be an “accredited” university to ensure that its degree graduates have the maximum mobility in both the workplace and in further study.
Question 4
Two sub-questions to answer this question:
1. Generally, how are universities different than colleges? and
2. How will Mount Royal be different as a university?
Three primary areas to examine:
1. Governance
2. Program Mix
3. Faculty
We need more degrees and the preferable system would be for those degrees to come from a university.
But what changes would be required at Mount Royal if it were to become a university?
1. Governance
• A “bicameral” environment….a division of powers between a governing body and an academic body whereby the board manages the finance, plant and human resource (non academic) matters and the academic body manages the academic matters.
• AUCC defines academic side as …”Authority vested in academic staff for decisions affecting academic programs… through ...appropriate elected body of academic staff.”
2. PROGRAM Comparison: MRC & University Status
MRC Today
University Norm
The
“New U”
Baccalaureate Degrees- Applied- Other (2)
20%
37%
2%
82%
20% (1)
50%
Certificates/Diplomas 43% 3% 30%
Graduate Degrees 0% 13% 0%
Total FLE 7,595 FLE 9,500 FLE
(1) These degrees would retain a workplace focus, however, the label would change under a university structure.
(2) Other degrees includes professional degrees such as nursing, teacher education, business, etc.
3. FACULTY Comparison: MRC & University Status
MRC Today University Norm The New “U”
Undergrad Intensive
Research Intensive
Base Classroom Contact Hours per Week
13.5 9 3 to 6 9 to 13.5
Role Distrib./Expectation• Teaching• Research• Service
90% 0%10%
40%40%20%
30%50%20%
(Avg. across FT fac.)60%20%20%
Qualifications Range from PhD to baccal., plus profess. qual. & experience
PhD & peer-adjudicated research experience & background
PhD in baccal. areas (or equiv. in profess. fields)
Promotion Structure
• Teaching• Research/Scholarship• Service
No Rank Structure Assist. to Assoc. to Full Prof. ranking structure
20%70%10%
Assist. To Assoc. to Full Prof. ranking structure
70%20%10%
THE NEW U??
• Governance: Established under Bill 43… traditionally bicameral.
• Program: Primarily undergraduate university level but with an applied/workplace orientation.
• Faculty: Workload and reward structure that includes a scholarly role but emphasizes instruction.
• Delivery: Close faculty interaction at a time and mode that reflects learner needs.
Question 5
Contact with Professors + Scholarly Environment = Degree Environment
How much will this cost?Three items require resource consideration:
1. Library2. Faculty 3. Program delivery
These three items are all reflected to the extra costs of achieving the environment most likely to produce “degree outputs “.
What Are the Steps?
• Step 1: Get the mandate change
• Step 2: Get AUCC “accreditation”
• Step 3: Make a “new U”
The Message
Calgarians need access to degrees to ensure continued growth and prosperity – both individually and collectively.
Most valued (“mobile”) degrees can only be delivered in a university environment.
Mount Royal wants to become a university, but not a traditional university.
The Message (con’t)
The “New U”• Undergraduate only• Applied/workplace oriented• Faculty emphasis upon instruction• Delivery responsive to learner needs• Cost effective degree delivery
“Westjet U”
• Accessible, affordable, efficient and client responsive
Undergraduate - Instructionally Focused University
• No graduate activity• Role expectation for university-level faculty higher in
teaching/instruction than research• Criteria for faculty promotion through ranks:
1st consideration performance as instructor
2nd consideration performance as scholar• Performance as scholar would use inclusive
measure of scholarship (i.e., instructionally-related scholarship equally valued as traditional discipline, discovery or basis scholarship
What will distinguish MRU?
• Roles & place of non-university programs & faculty
• Blend of university & non-university programs
• Workplace focus• Unique student mix