Colleges Review 2017-18

Mandate: The committee is tasked:

i)to review the administrative changes to the Colleges implemented in 2014 to see if they achieved their intended goals, which were to: 1) strengthen the role and focus of the Colleges; 2) enhance the overall student experience; 3) reaffirm the importance of the College system; 4) provide greater capacity for the Colleges to provide student support and community development; and 5) grow the role that the Colleges play in student retention; and

ii)to make recommendations on how further progress toward those goals may be achieved.

Summary of Symons Campus College Changes

Over the years since their founding, Symons campus colleges have undergone a number of changes, some incremental, some related to centralization of functions, changes in roles, or increased enrolment. These have included:

  • As enrolment has increased, the proportion of students living in residence has shifted. Now, about 60% of first years live in residence, and almost all upper-years live off campus; this means 85% of students do not live in residence. The demand for first year residence has also led to Trent leasing buildings on Water Street and at the Village on Argyle; these are affiliated with individual colleges.
  • Faculty no longer affiliate with specific colleges when they join Trent, and are much more aligned with their departments. With ever-increasing teaching and research responsibilities, faculty ceasedassigned individual student academic advising. As well, like other universities, Trent relies increasingly on part-time faculty members as well as full-time tenured faculty.
  • Certain functions that were originally housed in individual colleges were centralized, such as maintenance and caretaking, housing, and food services.
  • Student support, for both academic and personal issues, is increasingly being sought by students and their families. Student services such as counselling, health services, accessibility services, academic skills, careers, etc. were developed as central offices, not in the colleges.

In the past several decades, there have been several periodic reviews and proposals with respect to the colleges. In 2012, the Provost included in the academic plan the need to reaffirm and strengthen the role of colleges, and struck a Colleges Planning Committee (CPC). The committee produced a report in spring 2013, which included the following recommendations:

  • That the role of colleges as an integral part of the Trent student experience be strengthened. This includes providing relevant and accessible programming for all students, not just those living in residence, in order to promote co-curricular involvement and a connection to the college and Trent University.
  • That each college further develop its own unique identity, enabling students to choose their college not simply based on first year residence choice or random assignment.
  • That college student leadership be strongly supported, primarily through the cabinets and also through college student staff. This would include additional training, consultation, and better co-ordination of events and activities.
  • That college staff take on an increased role in student support, in order to enable college offices to be seen as the first point of contact for students seeking academic or personal assistance. College full-time and student staff should have expertise and be provided training and professional development to act as a first point of contact for students.
  • Peer support is a powerful source of role modelling, connects students to colleges and increases the reach of student support services. Upper year peer supporters have great potential for mentoring first year students as they transition to the university environment.
  • Residential living learning communities, in which students apply to be housed around a theme, are also a strong way to connect students to their academics and to the college. With Housing, the CPC recommended further developing the living learning communities.
  • Alumni have a strong connection to their colleges, and the CPC recommended exploring further ways to involve alumni in college activities, including providing mentorship to students and including alumni in college activities.

In order to facilitate these goals, a new college staff structure was developed, and was implemented in 2014-2015. Changes included:

  • The College Head position went from half-time faculty/staff appointments to full-time staff members. The focus of these is to build college community, provide support for student leadership and involvement, to work with faculty, staff and alumni to provide increased connections with students, and to oversee college activities and operations. The College Heads are expected to have experience and education in student life programming, student support, and student leadership, as well as a strong commitment to the history and development of the college system.
  • The College Assistant positions were consolidated into one position, and the other assistants were redeployed. Certain functions that took up assistants’ time, such as college room booking approvals, were made electronic.
  • A new position, Director of Colleges, was created to provide oversight and advocacy for the colleges, as well as to supervise and support college heads and college academic support staff. This position works with the college heads and cabinets to steward college resources, ensures consistency in college student support, helps co-ordinate college planning, and provides professional development support to college staff.
  • Academic Advisors (formerly senior tutors) remained in college offices, and Academic Skills Instructors – previouslyhoused in a centralized office – were also moved into the colleges in 2015, so each college has an Academic Skills Instructor in the college office. College heads, advisors and skills instructors continue to work as teams across the colleges.
  • College student staff numbers were increased significantly, to 49 positions in total. These include each college having student facilitators, who provide support to students and college staff, college liaisons, who develop college programming, community supporters who work with the college heads, and summer ambassadors. Academic skills also have student peer supporters. This year, we also had a summer student position focusing on college engagement.

Goals and objectives stemming from the College Planning Committee report and the restructuring included providing programming that engaged a wider number of students and met more student needs. The overarching colleges functions are summarized in this diagram:

Since the changes, the colleges have been tracking and assessing a number of metrics in order to gauge the level of student engagement and student support being provided through the colleges. College activities are also being reported on. This information is available through the college annual board of governors reports, and will be reviewed by the committee assessing the college changes.