Annual Report 2005-2006 - Osgoode Hall Law School - York ...

STUDENT SERVICES
• Develop an Admissions staff presentation to be presented at the start of each year’s admissions cycle —
provide overview of coming year’s process with designated responsibilities.
• Establish dialogue between IT and York SIS Team to design/implement measures that will facilitate the
synchronization of OASIS data to the York SIS, resulting in the elimination of the current Shadow Data
Base and the duplication of data entry.
• Revisit and refine the re-design plan for OASIS — implement changes, by priority, prior to start of 2007
admission cycle where possible.
• Design and Implement early e-mail notification advising of an offer of admission via OASIS.
• Build all admission letters into OASIS so that all can be generated via OASIS through applicant’s record.
• Introduce additional recruitment letters for Offer package, such as the Assistant Dean (First Year),
Mature Students Association, Aboriginal Students Association, and Directors of Combined Programs
(LLB/MBA/MES/JD).
• Review additional system changes to OASIS for greater effectiveness for students and staff.
• Audit current (and past) statistical data collected — objective to design and implement a standard set of
data to be reported during each admissions cycle from year to year.
• Design and implement bi-weekly, monthly and yearly standard admissions reports and a standard
Admissions Management Report, to be presented with the Chair’s Admissions Report to Faculty Council.
Student Financial Services
• As the university and provincial government continue to review and discuss the definition of “unmet
need” and the impact of the Student Access Guarantee, the SFSO will need to review and, perhaps,
update its Bursary Process to ensure it is in compliance with the new requirements. Together
with ensuring compliance, the SFSO’s goal has always been to ensure fairness among all Osgoode
students, as well as continue its efforts to provide as much detail and access as possible to alternate
sources of funding.
• Research and identify the reasons only 46 per cent of Osgoode’s OSOTF funds were distributed last year.
Changes must be made to many of our awards to allow them to be more easily and readily allocated to
our students on an annual basis, as the criteria are often inflexible and do not allow for distribution in a
given year. These changes impact on entrance scholarships, upper-year scholarships, and bursaries, and
through the Advancement Office, existing criteria will need to be reviewed with donors.
• Continue to implement the recommendations of the Working Group’s Financial Assistance Report. In
particular, the Online Bursary application will be amended and then the results of these changes must be
interpreted and assessed.
• Create a new database for Prize Distribution, similar to the bursary process, for the annual distribution
of Osgoode prizes.
• Improve Recording and Reporting Systems for Financial Services, to enable more efficient and effective
responses for both regular annual reports as well as ad hoc requests from various offices.
• Continue to advocate for the inclusion of a new middle-level position (formerly approved) to oversee
more of the financially-related projects in the office. This recommendation was made by the Working
Group in its Report, in recognition of the increasing demands on the SFSO.
30 OSGOODE HALL LAW SCHOOL