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 institutional priorities. It held its fifth meeting of the academic year virtually on January 19, 2023.
NOTIFICATION OF DEVELOPMENTAL SERVICES WORKER-APPRENTICESHIP (PROGRAM CLOSURE)
Nora Simpson, associate dean, FSCS currently overseeing CPL programs, spoke to the closure of the Developmental Services Worker-Apprenticeship program due to low enrolment. This program’s students are nominated by their employer, and in recent years, their sponsorship for these apprenticeships has declined.
Eleven students are currently in this program, with most scheduled to complete it before Fall 2023. For students who cannot complete the program by this date, a transfer pathway will be created to support their program continuation at Loyalist and Fanshaw colleges, as these colleges continue to offer this program.
For learners seeking credentials in developmental services at Humber, the college will continue to offer a two-year diploma and an accelerated (soon to be advanced standing) development services program.
For information on the process followed to close a Humber program, visit: https://humber.ca/legal-and-risk-management/policies/academic/program-suspensioncancellation-policy.html
INNOVATIVE LEARNING – SUPPORT FOR FACULTY
Dawn Macaulay, dean, Innovative Learning, Heather Lowry, associate dean, Digital Learning, and Ranya Khan, associate dean, Teaching Excellence provided an overview of their area and the support they offer to Humber faculty, administrators, and support staff.
Formerly the Centre for Teaching and Learning, Innovative Learning (IL) is dedicated to developing and enhancing teaching innovation and learning across the institution. It supports conversation and inspiration to energize and mobilize innovative and evidence-informed teaching practices. Its two areas serve as a hub for the Humber community, supporting its vision as a polytechnic education leader:
- Teaching Excellence: Offers Professional Learning Educational Development, Curriculum Design and Delivery, the Teaching Excellence Program, Teacher Micro-credentials, and Workshops and Institutes
- Digital Learning: Hosts the Innovative Learning Support Centre and provides training, resources and support related to LMS Blackboard Ultra, MS Teams for Teaching, Panopto, other college-adopted ED Technology, and Online Course Builds. For support and hours, visit http://humber.ca/innovativelearning.
IL offers learning opportunities to all Humber employees at no charge. Registration announcements and information are circulated via Communique. These include:
- Micro-credentials: Assessments for Learning, Curriculum Design and Development, Facilitating Learning, Teaching and Learning in Hyflex Environments.
- Certificates: Teaching Effectiveness, Culturally Inclusive Educator, Inclusive Curricular Design, Teaching in a Digital World, Digital Documents for Accessibility in Teaching.
ENROLMENT UPDATE AND 2023-2024 ACADEMIC CALENDAR
Barbara Riach, AVP, Enrolment Management & Registrar provided updates on Humber’s enrolment.
Over the Fall 2022 and Winter 2023 terms, colleges across Ontario continued to experience a drop in domestic applications and enrolment, and an increase in international applications and enrolment. Humber experienced an 11.1% overall drop in applications (largely due to non-direct learners/mature students), compared to a system-wide decline of 8.5%, with some reporting a 20+% drop. Colleges just outside the GTA and in Northern Ontario experienced the largest decline. In Fall 2022 enrolment was down 3034 overall ( -3,153 Domestic and +119 for International) and in Winter 2023 was down 3,366 overall (-3,946 Domestic and +580 International).
In August 2022, The Star reported 1 million job vacancies and the national unemployment rate in Canada as 4.9%, the lowest since 1970. A strong employment market impacts the number of people upgrading their skills, and making changes to their careers, thereby impacting the number of non-direct applications received at Humber and at other postsecondary institutions. There was a significant decline in domestic applications and enrolment in graduate certificate programs, which are designed to “top-up” and build on an undergraduate credential and provide an introduction to the employment market through work-integrated learning.
Humber and its international learners continue to grapple with the uncertainty around students securing study-permits, travel costs and experiencing travel challenges. The deferred administration of study permit approvals has resulted in a back-log of approximately 180K study permit applications at Immigration Canada. Humber faculty responded by creating online sections to accommodate semester 1 students awaiting these permits.
Fall 2022 and 2021 registrations by campus were 57%/59% North; 36%/38% Lakeshore; 5%/2% IGS (up more than double); and 1%/1% Online. The international Graduate School (IGS) enrolled 1295 students (representing 65% of its capacity) in Fall 2022, up from 566 the previous year. Registration by credential for these same terms was: 21%/23% Degree; 18%/14% Graduate Certificate; 18%/20% Advance Diploma; 38%/38% Diploma; and 5%/5% Certificate.
Humber continues to diversify the countries from which its students originate. Countries currently include: India, Philippines, Vietnam, Nigeria, Brazil, Colombia, Hong Kong, Ukraine, Mexico, Jamaica, and Russia. India continues to make up a large portion of students studying at Humber and across the college system.
Derek Stockley, AVP, Academic shared the academic calendar for FY23/24. To view the calendar, visit: https://humber.ca/admissions/office-of-the-registrar/academic-calendar.html
EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT SESSION: THE FUTURE OF WORK
Marianne Davitjan, director, Organizational Effectiveness and Elizabeth McPherson, manager, Employee Engagement & Learning, Human Resources & Organizational Effectiveness (HROE), provided an overview of the Employee Engagement Framework and conducted a consultation with Humber College Council focused on the Future of Work project.
The 2020 Employee Engagement and Well-being Framework provides a graphical representation of Humber’s drivers of employee well-being and engagement. Developed based on industry research and leading practice, Humber employees were invited to vote on the drivers Humber would prioritize, and plans were developed to actionize the 5 employee-selected drivers: Personal Well-being, Work Well-Being, Environmental & Social Well-being, Organizational Well-Being and Cultural Well-Being. For more information on the Employee Engagement and Well-being Framework and the actions the college is taking, visit the HROE website.
As part of The Future of Work (FoW) Project that seeks to improve the employee experience and increase the college’s ability to attract and retain top talent, the HROE team is developing a Future of Work Framework. The framework will define what flexible work looks like at Humber and outline the organizational pre-requisites, changes, tools, and support required to successfully enable flexible work practices, including digital services, HR policies, programs and initiatives, and services. The FoW will include a strategy and roadmap (enterprise-wide and divisional) to socialize and implement the framework. To date, the project has consulted the academic and administrative leadership and some divisions to identify FoW opportunities and challenges for Humber.
Breakout sessions were conducted with HCC to determine how Humber can innovate the employee experience in our new hybrid work environment. HCC was asked to discuss the following:
- How can Humber create the best employee experience?
- What are Humber’s strengths and how can we leverage them to attract and retain employees?
- How do we ensure employees have the flexibility they need to allow them to meet their work and personal commitments, ensuring each employee is able to disconnect at the end of their workday?
Following the consultation, HROE will review the data collected to identify practices, policies, and solutions to support the transition.
NEXT HCC MEETING
The next Humber College Council meeting will be held virtually on March 9, 2023. HCC will meet February 9, 2023 for a professional development session.
For questions or comments about HCC meeting highlights, contact regan.mancini@humber.ca. For supporting materials, meeting minutes or opportunities to provide feedback, please visit the College Council website or contact shovani.samalia@humber.ca.
