College Council Highlights - February 2022

An assembly of faculty, support staff, students, and administrators, Humber College Council (HCC) is Humber’s collective employee voice, making suggestions to Humber College’s President as it relates to long and short‐term priorities outlined in the institution’s Strategic Plan. To ensure the Humber community is informed of upcoming events, new initiatives, and important issues, HCC reports the highlights of its monthly meetings through this medium.

HCC held its sixth meeting of the 2021-2022 academic year on Thursday, February 17, 2022.

ACADEMIC & DIGITAL CAMPUS PLANS 2022-2025 CONSULTATION

Gina Antonacci, Senior Vice-President, Academic and Scott Briggs, Vice-President, Digital Innovation and CIO tabled a discussion on Humber’s current Academic and Digital Campus Plans. 

  • The Academic Plan sets out the priorities and goals related to teaching and learning including programming, research and innovation, faculty and staff development, and partnerships.
  • The Digital Campus Plan focuses on the technology that enhances teaching and learning and allows us to be more agile, connected, impactful, and sustainable

As these college plans are wrapping up, Humber is launching a consultation process to determine its teaching, learning, and digital campus priorities for the next three years.

This session was focused on consulting HCC. The following questions were posed to HCC by Corrine Johnston, Director, Institutional Planning & Analysis supported by Jennifer Larson, Strategic Communications and Innovation Manager, Applied Research & Innovation and Regan Mancini, Institutional Planning Specialist, Institutional Planning & Analysis:

  1. What faculty and staff training would position Humber to meet the challenges of the future and enhance our existing academic activities?

  2. How can Humber leverage digital resources or technology to enhance/improve our existing academic activities?

  3. How can Humber ensure that our academic programs are of the highest quality and meet both the needs of our learners and the labour market? Are there new program areas we should consider?

  4. What one big change could Humber make that would significantly differentiate it from its competitors?  Some broad areas to consider:

    • Building and leveraging strategic partnerships

    • Developing new credentials, programs, pathways, and/or curriculum

    • Growing our research and innovation activities

A summary of the discussion will be posted to the Academic & Digital Campus Plan refresh website along with all the other consultation summaries and information related to this process.

HUMBER’S QUALITY CULTURE

Vera Beletzan, Associate Vice-President Teaching and Learning, and Nichole Molinaro, Dean, Program Planning, Development and Renewal provided an update with the Ontario College Quality Assurance Service (OCQAS(/ College Quality Assurance Audit Process (CQAAP) audit process.

Every five years, each publicly-funded college undergoes an audit. The process engages the entire college in examining how well Humber is meeting the Ministry’s standards and its ongoing commitments to quality assessment. The audit assesses whether Humber has adequate quality assurance mechanisms in place, whether these mechanisms are effective, and whether Humber regularly reviews and updates it.  

In terms of what is meant by “quality” in this context, OCQAS defines it as “The alignment and consistency of the learning environment with the institution’s vision, mission and goals (fit for purpose) demonstrated by the development of a culture of quality”. At an Academic leaders meeting, Humber’s leadership associated the following words with a culture of quality: consistency, accountability, excellence, collaboration, transparency, and continuous improvement. “A culture of quality” was recognized as a core Humber value and a continuous process.

The audit process commenced at Humber in June 2021 and will end in May/June 2022 when a site visit is conducted. The process includes mapping COSSID and Humber’s programs, consultation with the academic faculties and service departments to complete a self-study, and a site visit conducted by OCQAS.

OCQAS chose to review nine Humber programs for Humber’s audit and to assess six quality assurance standards. Each standard has 3-8 associated requirements.

  1. College-wide Program Quality Management System: includes the review processes and mechanisms to conduct data analysis and oversight/governance structures.

  2. Vocational Learning Outcomes (VLOs) as the Centre of Program Development: ensures learning outcomes are at the center of each Humber program.

  3. Conformity with Government Requirements: this includes ensuring that Program Advisory Committees are attached to each Humber program and that they actively input into Humber programs.

  4. Program Delivery and Student Assessment: looks at the mechanisms Humber uses to ensure quality delivery and assessments.

  5. Existence, Monitoring & Communication of Policies & Practices that Influence & Impact Academic Quality: ensures that academic policies and procedures are regularly monitored and updated and that they are communicated to stakeholders, including when they undergo changes.

  6. Availability and Allocation of College-Wide Resources: includes professional development and onboarding for Humber employees and student support services.

In April, Humber will conduct a dry run for the site visit to ensure the Humber community understands the process, including HCC.

Once the review has been conducted, a report will be created that outlines the elements the college met or did not meet, or partially met. If it partially met or did not meet a standard, OCQAS makes recommendations as to how the college can meet it. Humber then has 18 months to comply with the standard. At that time, a final audit decision will be made as to whether Humber has met expectations.

NEXT HCC MEETING

The next Humber College Council meeting will be on Thursday, March 17, 2022 through Microsoft Teams.

For questions or comments about HCC meeting highlights, contact regan.mancini@humber.ca. For supporting materials or opportunities to provide feedback, please visit the College Council website or contact shovani.samalia@humber.ca.