What would it take to make you proud of the organization you work for? How involved would you become if asked to articulate and share your dreams and goals to help it become the best it could be?
Would you show up at strategic planning sessions on your own time? Answer detailed questionnaires and rigorously debate your views with colleagues? Would you help in the collective drafting of a vision statement exploring your organization's potential to expand its contribution to the local, national and international communities?
Over the past six months, thousands of students, faculty and staff members, alumni and friends of the University of Ottawa have been actively engaged in just such a process. Called Vision 2010, it is bringing diverse members of our community together to map out the future of the University and its impact on our broader society.
In today's complex world, the role of a university goes well beyond its gates. Providing students with an excellent education is critical, of course. But preparing them to become responsible citizens, making specialized knowledge accessible to the broader public, and facilitating the application of new learning to real world situations are also fundamental to what we do.
The University of Ottawa's integral role in the community has been well-documented. A 2002 regional economic impact analysis prepared by PriceWaterhouseCoopers described us as a multidimensional corporate citizen and engine of growth, influencing community life on a significant scale. The report noted that our economic impact in the City of Ottawa alone is $800 million annually; across the province of Ontario, it's well in excess of $1 billion.
This shouldn't be a surprise. With our unique history dating back to 1848; our privileged location in the heart of the national capital, at the juncture of both French and English Canada; and the innovative research work of our distinguished professors, we are ideally positioned to enrich the intellectual and cultural life of Canada, and to help the country achieve greater international prominence.
Pauline Tam's interesting article in the November 20th edition of the Citizen focused on one of the University of Ottawa's distinguishing features: our exceptional capacity to work in both of Canada's official languages. Our students and professors have the option of studying and teaching in French, English, or both. This opens up countless opportunities for all members of our institution. But our commitment to playing a leadership role in promoting bilingualism is only one aspect of what we do and where we're going.
To date, the comprehensive Vision 2010 consultation and planning process has identified four major directions and 16 objectives that reinforce the University of Ottawa's relevance to the community, our country and the world.
One of these relates to our ongoing commitment to strategic partnerships – with non-governmental agencies, private companies, foreign countries and the federal government. For example, these partnerships are resulting in support for new students in adapting to and succeeding at the university (a mentorship program funded by the CIBC); innovative research into the challenging ethical and policy dimensions of organ and tissue donation (supported by the Bertram Loeb Organ and Tissue Donation Institute); and increased international understanding stemming from student and faculty exchange programs with sister universities in more than 30 countries.
In addition, members of the University of Ottawa community, collaborating with our partner teaching hospitals and health research institutes, are contributing to the development of important diagnostic and treatment tools for HIV/AIDS, diabetes and cancer.
These examples speak to a key principle of the Vision 2010 process. One of the profound strengths of the University of Ottawa is the great diversity of the communities from which we draw support. By harnessing the thinking of many, we are developing a whole that really is greater than the sum of its parts.
This is especially important because integral to all of our objectives is a commitment to quality in research and teaching. The underlying impetus for Vision 2010 is the University of Ottawa's commitment to be competitive with the best educational institutions in the world. To this end, we will develop concrete performance indicators to help us measure our progress and judge our effectiveness in achieving these ambitious goals.
Once the consultation process on the draft strategic plan is completed, we will incorporate the feedback from all of our constituents and partners and release the final Vision 2010 blueprint. In the meantime, we welcome your input as a member of the community we serve.
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