Update to Donors on KPU's Academic Plan 2023

Launched three years ago with full implementation beginning in early 2019, the KPU Academic Plan 2023 includes 9 strategic goals in the key areas of student success, teaching excellence, accelerating research, next generation international, increasing Indigenous participation, advancing open education research and practices, employability of Trades and Technology apprentices, preparing for incoming K-12 graduates, and graduate studies. Each of the strategic goals is accompanied by 6 to 8 strategies and I am pleased to provide this update of our tremendous progress in working towards our goals in the 2020-2021 academic year. To promote student success, we imagined the opportunity to enhance online learning for KPU students, and since the conversion to online delivery in March 2020, KPU has truly become a multi-modal delivery institution. For the Fall 2021 semester we planned a course delivery mix of approximately 65% face-to-face and 35% online in various formats including asynchronous, synchronous, and blended modes. The Teaching and Learning Commons has presented the Level Up: Learn to Teach Online course to over 400 faculty and also provided faculty with access to a suite of new and updated software platforms to enhance video conferencing, ePortfolios, video creation and editing, infographics, and digital collaboration. We purchased 300 laptops to enable access to online learning for our students and contributed resources for small equipment purchases to assist faculty in the online learning environment. Our embrace of open educational practices, signifying open, affordable, and equitable education, is now well understood as a core part of KPU’s identity. In the past year our Zero Textbook Credit initiative has saved KPU students another $3 Million in textbook cost savings and we are widely regarded as an international leader in open education. We are also proud of KPU Complete, a set of specialized supports for students aged 25 years and older, including a dedicated staff Learning Navigator who provides coaching and referrals to appropriate student services. We continue to make progress in our efforts to increase Indigenous participation and to promote a renewed, authentic approach to Indigenous resurgence and decolonization. A new Indigenous Community Coordinator position was filled in Spring 2020, this position works closely with KPU’s Future Students Office to support recruiting activities for Indigenous Learners including participation at Indigenous Career and Education Fairs. Soon, we will welcome a new Coordinator, Indigenous Student Transition and Engagement, who will be responsible for

the coordination and delivery of specialized culturally relevant programming that supports the transition and engagement of KPU’s diverse Indigenous student population. The University has recently hired a Special Advisor on Indigenous Leadership, Innovation and Partnerships who reports to the President. Work is underway to update the content and format of KPU’s Indigenous Awareness Modules including their translation to multiple languages. To better prepare our faculty for the classroom, our Teaching and Learning Commons team added an Educational Consultant for Indigenization. This position will support the further development of KPU educators in acquiring competencies related to designing learning experiences and environments that support Indigenization and decolonization of the curriculum. In addition, KPU’s new Foundations in Teaching Excellence program includes a focus on Indigenization within the context of inclusive teaching. Our determination to build the next generation KPU international has yielded remarkable results. Through innovation, creativity, and process review we have been able to renew our focus on international students and more fully realize the important role they play in our institution and the KPU community. The International Peer Mentor program has continued in every semester since Summer 2020. To date, 1,670 new international students have participated in the program with 103 domestic and international mentors hired and matched with the new students. Changes to our admissions process for international students has reduced the issuing of acceptance letters from up to eight weeks to within 48 hours. There has also been sustained attention paid to diversifying our international student mix through implementation of a diversification strategy which includes the identification of target markets.

The pandemic had the potential to hamper our efforts to realize aspects of the Academic Plan 2023, however, this has not been our reality. In some ways, the pandemic has accelerated the rate and breadth of change. A total of 83% of the strategies are showing significant progress and are having demonstrable impacts. Such amazing progress on the Academic Plan 2023 can be attributed to the resilience and hard work of our faculty, staff, and administration during such an unusual and challenging time in our history.

Diane Purvey Pro Tem Provost and Vice President, Academic

Learn more and follow our progress at: kpu.ca/vp-academic/academic-plan-2023