Over the past year, Niagara College has experienced record enrolment growth. We have been one of the fastest growing colleges in Ontario, with a nearly 50% increase in full time enrolment in the past decade. I want to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts undertaken by all of our staff to achieve this success and to recognize the challenges and opportunities such growth creates.
With an challenging economic landscape and all levels of government looking to provide stimulus to the economy with investments in re-training and in building additional college capacity, our strong growth rate will likely continue for the foreseeable future. During this period of exceptional growth, the external environment, as well as program delivery, has become increasingly complex and competitive, presenting new challenges to the traditional methods of teaching and program development.
Within this dynamic environment of growth and change, our academic structure has remained effectively unchanged for over a decade. Over the next several months, Niagara College will be transitioning to a new Academic Division structure, with the intent that the new structure will be in place for the start of the 2009 Fall term.
Considerable thought, research and consultation have gone into ensuring that Niagara College has an academic structure that will move us forward and support the teaching and learning infrastructure and services our students require. Last fall, the college hired an external consultant to assist us with a structural review. The review identified a need to invest in both academic leadership positions and administrative management positions within Niagara College, and indicated that we are currently significantly less resourced in this area than comparable colleges. The broad examination of our structure took into account many factors, including our strategic plan, program requirements, future opportunities, our multi-campus operations and comparison with other academic structures.
New Academic Structure
A new structure has been developed that responds to the many drivers discussed above. It provides the academic and administrative leadership required, and provides for succession planning and continued college evolution.
The new academic structure also provides greater support and communication within divisions. It is consistent with Niagara College’s strategic directions, grouping our programs into faculties and schools that recognize subject-related groupings within our multi-campus context. The structure was developed within the financial context of Niagara College, and will be sustainable within the forecast funding framework.
The new structure is shown on the attached organizational chart (see link below). Deans are supported by Chairs and Academic Operations Manager positions, as identified. Deans will be able to focus more on program development and relationships within the community; Chairs will focus on program quality, program delivery and resource planning, while Academic Operations Managers will provide administrative support to the budget, hiring and purchasing processes for the Deans and the Chairs.
Hiring new senior academic leaders to fill vacant positions is critical to the College and needs to be effected as soon as possible. It is important to understand that the decision on adopting the new structure had to be made before the hiring decisions could proceed.
Divisional Changes
In some cases the divisions identified are close to the current structures in place, with Chairs added to provide additional academic leadership in multi-campus or large divisions. A few areas should be highlighted. The culinary and viticulture programs are brought together, recognizing the significant inter-linkage in the course offerings, community activities and learning enterprises between these areas. A new centre will be developed to market our strategic strengths in this area, tentatively identified as the Canadian Wine and Culinary Centre. Hospitality and tourism programs are moved within a new Management and Hospitality Division to recognize and build the strong program interactions with Niagara College’s business programs.
The environmental and horticultural clusters are brought into an expanded Environment, Media & Technology Division to support a strategic move towards green technologies. Environmental technologies that support sustainable development are increasingly recognized as critical to our future. At the same time, this new structure recognizes the major role technology plays in many of the environmental programs, from GIS to Greenhouse Technician. The media and technology clusters re-amalgamated, recognizing the strong historical connections at Niagara and to support program development in strategic areas such as new media and computer sciences.
The Community Studies and the Health Sciences Divisions reflect the significant enrolment and strategic growth expected within these program areas. There will continue to be a strong focus on programs that support a growing range of community and health services, with a backbone of community engagement and placements that are critical elements to our success.
Continuing Education will continue with some reallocation of course delivery responsibility to other academic divisions. It will maintain a central coordination role for continuing education and will also assume a more defined role in supporting new program development.
LBS/OBS programming and apprenticeship coordination and some delivery are moved to the Workforce and Business Development division. The inclusion of these programs, along with an existing focus on retraining programs such as Second Career, Job Connect and apprenticeship coordination, brings us into alignment with the provincial agency, Employment Ontario, responsible for the funding and coordination of these same services.
Finally, the Libraries continue to provide services through this new academic structure. Services will evolve with the master plan changes and the move to a learning commons at both campuses.
While there are a number of changes within the new structure, it continues to build on Niagara College’s key historical strengths, provides new academic leadership opportunities and supports our strategic directions.
Implementation
The implementation will take time to complete, and will be evolutionary in nature. We acknowledge that change can be unsettling. Therefore we will keep the College community well informed and up to date on the changes as they are evolving. The Deans will be finalizing the details for each school over the coming weeks, after discussions within each division. The Deans will formally move into the new structure effective July 1, 2009.
Over the coming months, the open positions will be posted and filled. Chair positions will be filled for the start of the Fall 2009 term through both permanent hires and internal secondment opportunities. The Academic Operations Manager positions in each division will be filled by August 2009.
This is a good news story of reinvestment that positions us for new opportunities. We are building on the excellence of our staff to enhance the quality of our programs, student success, and the effectiveness of the College overall. If you have any questions regarding the restructuring, please feel free to contact your Dean or Vice-president Academic Steve Hudson.
A chart outlining the new Academic Divisional structure has been prepared and is available online at www.niagaracollege.ca/webdocs/new_academic_structure.pdf
Posted by Niagara College Communications 
