Academic Directions and Budget Strategies for the Next Five Years

Recommendations Approved by Senate on January 29, 1997

Recommendation 1:

1. The University and faculties shall proceed to evaluate units and programs, existing or proposed, in terms of their intrinsic excellence, their contribution to the priorities in support of the mission identified by the University and by the.faculty, and their economic viability. This evaluation shall be completed by September 1997 [date to be modified].
2. The Principal and deans shall act on the results of the evaluations as part of the University's 1998-99 budget process [date to be modified].

Recommendation 2:

The University shall revise the PBA and the budget process, so as to institute incentives for measures that advance its overall interests, by insuring:

1. that a part of the resources created or saved by a unit should be returned to that unit specifically;
2. that interfaculty cooperation be adequately supported and rewarded;
3. that a larger proportion than at present of future budgets of the University should be dedicated to discretionary spending, to promote quality and university-wise priorities;
4. that action designed to benefit one unit at the expense of others and without any overall gain to the University as a whole should be discouraged.

Recommendation 3:

While recognizing that adjustments will have to be made on a yearly basis, in general the University shall henceforth prepare plans and budgets with a five-year horizon.

Recommendation 4:

Withdrawn

Recommendation 5:

1. All faculties shall devise specific recruitment strategies that will take into account the results of student surveys and market studies and estimated economic impact, in order to maintain an appropriate mix of students, with regard to geographical origin, linguistic ability, etc., that meets McGill's mission as a national and international university.
2. Efforts shall be made actively to recruit qualified students from around the world, in particular, Francophone students from all parts of Canada, and world-wide.

Recommendation 6:

The University shall consider teaching excellence and potential as well as research and scholarship in the hiring process at all levels in all academic appointments.

Recommendation 7:

Faculties shall further ensure:

1. that all academic staff enhance their teaching skills with particular attention paid to teaching at the undergraduate level;
2. that all academic staff are given opportunities to improve their teaching skills, and become proficient in the use of new information technologies.

Recommendation 8:

The University shall review all its academic offerings and focus on:

1. the use of prerequisites and corequisites, in order to ensure that they are well-justified academically, promote student mobility and breadth of education, and increase the efficiency with which programs are delivered;
2. duplication, in order to minimize duplication and propose and implement cost-sharing arrangements to reduce academic staffing requirements in areas where duplication has been identified, and in order to eliminate redundancy in service courses, including but not limited to elementary language instruction, basic statistics ad introductory computer science;
3. low-enrolment courses, in order to ensure that they do not drain University resources away from core courses and that we utilize our teaching resources fully;
4. the pedagogical implications of large enrolment classes;
5. need for new approaches in order to allow students to broaden their education.

Recommendation 9:

Withdrawn

Recommendation 10:

The Summer Studies program should be reviewed, with the possibility of combining its administration with the Centre for Continuing Education and reassigning many of its responsibilities to faculties.

Recommendation 11:

Senate shall establish a special workgroup to examine the issue of Continuing Education in relation to its mandate and to the faculties of the University.

Recommendation 12:

The University shall take the necessary steps to enhance the interaction and collaboration between the downtown and Macdonald campuses and ensure a better use of facilities.

Recommendation 13:

The University shall encourage established or new programs that could benefit academically and economically through collaboration to consider interuniversity cooperation.

Recommendation 14:

McGill shall undertake to develop procedures for administrative functions to improve the quality of service, to reduce cost, and to explore a variety of options, which include outsourcing of activities not essential to the academic mission of the University, and cooperation with other universities.

Recommendation 15:

The senior administrators of the four Montreal universities together with their library directors should move quickly

1. to develop the necessary communications infrastructure to implement the virtual library;
2. to set up procedures to manage information resources in all four university libraries as a global resource;
3. to set up procedures to facilitate access by all students and staff to all libraries of the four university establishments.

Recommendation 16:

The University shall participate fully in the new provincial initiative and move decisively towards increasing the appropriate use of information technology in the design and implementation of its academic programs.

Recommendation 17:

The University shall create regulations for the set-up and operation of self-financing programs and shall promote the use of such regulations, and encourage a process of continuing examination of the academic and financial performance of such programs.

Recommendation 18:

1. The Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research shall develop a strategic plan for the development of technology transfer activities.
2. In addition, the University as a whole should improve linkages between the academic and external communities. Such a plan must include mechanisms such as student internships and stages, summer work, alumni connections, etc.
3. McGill must utilize its network of graduates to develop closer ties with companies and institutions in order to enhance technology transfer and the revenues that McGill derives from it.
4. McGill shall undertake vigorous efforts to publicize its role in the transfer of knowledge.

Recommendation 19:

The University administration shall study the patterns of consulting and other income generating and external professional activities in order to understand the nature and extent of these activities at McGill, to consider how these activities contribute to the mission of the University , and to update rules and regulations or to establish practice plans where appropriate.

Recommendation 20:

1. The appointment of tenure-track staff to research centres and institutes (RCIs) shall always be a joint venture of the RCI and a university department that has a defined teaching program appropriate to the expertise of the recruit.
2. Academic duties shall be assigned by the RCI and the relevant department so as to provide a balance of scholarship, teaching and administration.
3. When staff are appointed to RCIs without a full range of academic duties they shall not be tenure-track, and any salary commitment shall be the exclusive responsibility of the RCI.

Recommendation 21:

McGill University shall continue to take budgetary measures to enhance the competitive position of its academic salary structure.

Recommendation 22:

1. Every department shall systematically implement an equitable distribution of teaching load among academic staff.
2. The University shall demand that all staff be active in research and scholarship.
3. The University shall demand that all staff be active in research and scholarship.
4. The University shall immediately institute a formal system of assessment for academic staff whose performance has manifestly fallen below the standard for which tenure was granted.

Recommendation 23:

A system of periodic review of performance shall be revived for all administrative and support staff and implemented as soon as possible.

Recommendation 24:

McGill shall take the necessary steps to initiate a fund-raising campaign specifically designed to pay off the University's accumulated debt.