B. STRATEGIC INITIATIVES

B. STRATEGIC INITIATIVES

NWC is committed to continual improvement in all areas of operation. Through the 2018/21 Strategic Plan, the College has focused its attention on initiatives that best serve the communities, economy and students of the northwest. As articulated in Section A, these include a focus on increasing our WIL initiatives, improving educational pathways, supporting Indigenization and mental health as well as continuing to mature our Enterprise Risk Management culture. Given our single year strategy in 2020/21, our focus will be on the following three initiatives.

MAJOR STRATEGIC INITIATIVE 1 - THE NEW BATTLEFORDS CAMPUS

The College’s existing Battlefords campus is the region’s primary adult basic education and post-secondary education provider. Its current impact and growth is limited by its facility, limiting NWC’s responsiveness to evolving labour market needs, impacting student achievement and challenging ongoing collaboration with the public or private sector partners to provide critical wrap-around services, such as childcare, food services, counselling for mental health and addictions and cultural space.

Over the past several years, NWC has invested in an assessment framework to determine the best solution to our spatial challenges. NWC is proposing the design and construction of a new, standalone campus in the Battlefords in response to current issues facing the College. To realize growth and to adapt to educational and societal changes, NWC requires a new campus in the Battlefords.

Investment in an enhanced facility is anticipated to support NWC in achieving the following outcomes: a) Number of credentials awarded - Investment would enable NWC to increase its enrollment, house students on-site, provide students with services that enable their success and offer a more diverse array of brokered programs.

b)

c) Educational attainment in the Battlefords - Investment would enable NWC to provide its students with an enhanced quality of life and education, while simultaneously impacting the community through greater retention rates and higher economic output. Educational attainment for Indigenous people in the Battlefords - A provincial study in 2014 found that Indigenous graduates were more than twice as likely as non-Indigenous graduates to have had major childcare and housing challenges during their program. The provision of facilities and services that can integrate the social, cultural, and familial lives into education is one of the most significant desired outcomes from this Project. This metric is an incredibly important one that directly ties to improving quality of life for all students and their families, and especially Indigenous students.

The rational and need for a new facility has been affirmed through stakeholder engagement and the recent feasibility study. An updated business case has been submitted to the Capital branch of the Ministry of Advanced Education. This case explored several options utilizing industry sanctioned criteria and identified a new build in a new location as the preferred option.

Subject to funding approval North West is seeking additional pre-planning financial support in 2021/22.

In addition to the above, the following planning activities have been performed as of June 26, 2020: a) Functional Assessment of Facilities (January 2011) b) Master Planning Analysis (August 2012) c) Economic Impact Assessment (December 2017) d) Business Case (April 2019) e) Feasibility Study (January 2020) f) Business Case Update (April 2020)

NWC has not made any public commitments related to this Project as of June 26, 2020. However, the College’s interest in moving forward with the Project, including its anticipated functional program, have been communicated with key stakeholders.

The College plans to move forward with the recommendations identified in the Ross W. Marsh Feasibility Study, which recommends continued efforts to secure a major development partner and begin securing financial resources. At least four separate potential partners have expressed significant interest in a partnership for NWC campus development plan. NWC acknowledges supplemental work will be required to analyze the financial feasibility of partnership. Confirmation of a publicprivate-partnership approach would be undertaken in collaboration with the Government of Saskatchewan. The College will continue to advocate and develop a strategy to secure financial support for the design phase of the project.

As identified in our feasibility study and business case we have determined a new build in the Battlefords remains a top priority for the College, and the preferred option moving forward. 13

MAJOR STRATEGIC INITIATIVE 2 – ECONOMIC DIVERSIFICATION

MAJOR STRATEGIC INITIATIVE 1 - THE NEW BATTLEFORDS CAMPUS

As with other Colleges in the system, economic diversification remains a key strategic priority for the College. Although, NWC has one of the lowest operational costs in the post-secondary sector in Saskatchewan, in order to maintain programs and services, there is a need to diversify revenue streams and become less reliant on provincial funding.

NWC’s economic diversification strategy is multifaceted, and includes contract programming, internationalization and stakeholder engagement.

Stakeholder Engagement

In 2020/21, Business Development will continue to create, develop, and maintain relationships with business, industry, and employers in our region. Stakeholder engagement ensures the College can best fulfill its overall mandate of being responsive and meeting the needs of business and industry. Due to COVID-19,

13 Business Case and Feasibility Study can be provided upon request.

commitments made with partners in the 2019/20 year will need to be revisited, analyzed and determined if programming is viable. We anticipate in the short term, stakeholder engagement will look and feel differently.

Contract Programming

Developing partnerships with business, industry and community partners is key in contract training which NWC has made a priority in our Economic Diversification plan. Areas of significant growth in 2019/20 included First Nations contract training in Adult Basic Education, Institute Credit and Industry Credit throughout the region. Programs such as ABE Level 2, Food Service Cook, Community Safety Officer, and Security Guard certification was requested by our Indigenous partners and provided where and when it best served the client and community. The type of programming varied from one-day computer or safety ticket training to full 12 or 16-week Institute Credit programs. These programs support new workers entering the workforce and local professional development opportunities.

In 2020/21, we will continue to provide relevant training so employees can have the certification they need to transition to, and maintain employment. We will also endeavour to meet the needs of our communities through suitable programming opportunities for personal growth. In 2020/21, the College will need to take a conservative approach given the current State of Emergency, economic downturn and the pressures on First Nation partners. The mix and program types may also be altered due to the changing priorities of our partners.

Internationalization

Internationalization is another service area that NWC has invested in pursuing in 2020/21. The Battlefords Immigration Resource Centre (BIRC) identified a growing need for education among international students already living in the region who are unable to access NWC programs because NWC is not yet a delivery agent. Working with this long time partner to meet the need of these local perspective students, NWC submitted an application for designation of the International Student Program on December 18, 2019, followed by a site visit on February 27th . NWC awaits the results of this application to begin the implementation of our strategy. NWC’s desire for designation as a means of both economic diversification

and regional growth directly aligns with the Saskatchewan Plan for Growth’s objective to “strengthen Saskatchewan’s international relationships”14 .

The College’s approach to economic diversification is to meet the identified needs of our region in new and innovative ways. The educational needs of Indigenous communities as well as BIRC clients are not created markets but critical necessities to the continued economic growth of the region. In short, our economic diversification strategy positively contributes to the continued economic growth of northwestern Saskatchewan.

MAJOR STRATEGIC INITIATIVE 3 – Strategic adaptation due to COVID-19

The third strategic initiative in 2020/21 is the College’s strategic adaptation to the current State of Emergency and effectively positioning the College for long-term sustainability once the effects of this pandemic dissipate over time. Colleges, by their very nature are well suited to major shifts in business practice. Saskatchewan Regional colleges are relatively smaller in size compared to our Universities and Polytechnic, but we are responsive, adaptable and have limited bureaucracy resulting in streamlined and efficient business and program delivery practices. The current State of Emergency and Public Health Orders pose challenges for all public institutions as we attempt to plan for our upcoming academic year as we are vigilantly focused on ensuring the health and safety of our staff, students and communities. The College is acutely aware of the risks involved with providing programming and services to our students, and our leadership team is viewing this period of one of potential innovation and growth.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a catalyst to re-evaluate past practices, and implement innovative and strategic initiatives to better position the college for sustainable success in the future. Projects such as moving the student application forms online, creating fillable internal forms and digitizing timesheet workflows, were all accomplished in a few short weeks. While necessity leads to innovation, some of these short-term solutions will require recalibration for long-term success. For instance, in 2019/20 several programs were moved to alternative delivery modalities, but full online learning proved challenging given the absence of an established Learning Management System (LMS) at NWC. For 2020/21, the College invested in Google Classroom as a platform to support blended learning.

14 Saskatchewan’s Growth Plan – The Next Decade of Growth 2020-2030, p. 14.

In the long-term, NWC will be working collaboratively with its sector partners to determine the necessity of a system-wide LMS to be in place for 2021/22.

Also in 2020/21, the College will be allocating significant resources implementing elements of our Exposure Control Plan, while at a minimum, ensuring small class sizes and social distancing protocols are adhered to during these times. In order to mitigate risk and reduce the number of people on campus at any given time, the College will be implementing a blended academic and service delivery model. All staff and students will be oriented on all protocols as we move forward with slowly and methodically increasing program/service delivery starting this coming fall. However, all such plans must be approved by the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Advanced Education.

Throughout the COVID-19 State of Emergency, NWC has played a leadership role advocating for, and educating the sector about the digital divide and socioeconomic barriers to success that a blended model presents to our students, as well as the necessity for increased mental health supports for our staff and students. The College will continue this work to ensure inclusive education for all learners.