Annual Report 2010/11

The university has developed a range of diplomato-degreecompletion opportunities, particularly inthe School of Business. This work is now extendingto internal partnerships with other schools andfaculties. The Management Studies and Arts andCultural Management diplomas developed anarticulation agreement whereby students fromeach program have a facilitated transfer path to theother program. A certificate-to-diploma pathwaycurriculum was also developed during 2010/11 todesignate the Special Needs Educational Assistantcertificate as an admission requirement into theDisability Studies: Leadership and Communitydiploma.An agreement was reached with Olds Collegeto offer the first year of the Bachelor of Sciencedegree at the college, beginning in fall 2011. Thispartnership is the university’s first extension ofscience degree access to rural Alberta.The university continues to pursue degreecompletion opportunities for its diploma studentswith Thompson Rivers University (TRU). In2010/11, a transfer agreement was reached forMacEwan University Travel diploma graduatesto transfer to TRU’s Bachelor of TourismManagement.• Increase online and full credential offeringsthrough eCampusAlberta.In 2010/2011 the university experienced a 55per cent enrollment increase in courses offeredthrough eCampusAlberta. This was a resultof increasing the number of available onlinecourses, and increased registration in existingcourses. The development of online credentialscontinues, with plans to offer a variety ofcompletion opportunities for programs such asthe Bachelor of Commerce degree and Arts andCultural Management diploma. An expandedselection of online undergraduate courses in thearts and sciences also contributed to this growthin enrolment.• Implement a university model for distributededucation.A Distance and Distributed Education Committeewas mandated to provide oversight to onlineeducation activities across the university. Policy,operational issues, development priorities, andquality assurance are all considerations for thecommittee, which provides an annual work planand report to the Academic Governance Council.An annual planning and approval process isbeing established to coordinate and prioritizeboth the development of new courses andcredentials, and the maintenance of the existinginventory. The university has fully adopted theeCampusAlberta Essential Quality Standards(EQS) as part of the standard developmentmethodology. External peer review is part of EQSprocess.Scholarship, Researchand Artistic CreationStrategic Direction: Expand thecapacity for and profile of researchand scholarly activity at the university.Objectives:Raise the profile of research, scholarly andcreative activity at the university (2010–15).• Increase faculty engagement in externallypeer-reviewed research.In support of this objective, the university’sResearch Office, in collaboration with FacultyDevelopment and Faculty Commons:o hosted sessions on external fundingopportunitieso provided information on the Faculty Commonswebsite about external funding agencies andopportunities, including links to commonlyapplied–to granting agencies and award18 grant Macewan university