Goals, Objectives, Strategies and Results

Introduction

The ministry's goals and objectives described in this section are multi-year commitments for British Columbia's post-secondary education system and research and technology sector. They are consistent with the ministry's mandate and vision, and reflect the ministry's responsibility for providing leadership and policy direction to the post-secondary system, and supporting research, innovation and technology development in the province.

Brief descriptions are provided in this section of some specific activities and initiatives the ministry will undertake to achieve its goals and objectives. Progress toward achieving them will be tracked by a series of performance measures. For each performance measure, baseline data and the most current available data are provided along with annual performance targets for the next three years.¹

Diagrams on the pages that follow illustrate how the ministry's activities link with government's goals, and how the ministry's goals, objectives and performance measures are aligned.

Since issuing our 2004/05 – 2006/07 service plan, the ministry has added one new performance measure and added placeholders for one or two measures currently under development. Additionally, the ministry has finalized one measure that had been under development, and deleted nine measures. Of the deleted measures, one was removed because it focused on industry training, which is now a responsibility of the Ministry of Economic Development.² The rest were removed either because they focused on internal administrative matters with little public relevance, or because they were deemed inadequate for tracking progress toward objectives. In these latter cases, deletion of a measure does not diminish the importance of the outcome the measure was intended to track. For example, although the relevant measure has been removed, expanding online learning remains a priority for the ministry, as does increasing the education choices available to students through both public and private institutions. The ministry will continue exploring ways to track progress in these areas, and when suitable measures are developed they will be included in future service plans.

It must be noted that measuring the performance of British Columbia's diverse post-secondary education system and research and technology sector is a complex and long-term enterprise. The performance measures identified here represent the collaborative efforts of ministry and system representatives to identify the few critical aspects of performance. No single measure taken in isolation can reveal enough information to provide a reliable and accurate evaluation of performance. All measures should be considered together when assessing progress toward goals and objectives.

Ministry Goals and their Linkage to Government's Five Great Goals

The Government of British Columbia has identified five great goals for the years ahead. These goals will guide activities and focus efforts across all ministries and government organizations.

Government's five great goals are listed below. Each is followed by a short description of how it will be fulfilled in part by the work of the Ministry of Advanced Education and our partners in the post-secondary system, and by advances in research and innovation.

1. Make B.C. the best educated, most literate jurisdiction on the continent.

An excellent post-secondary system will provide students with high quality, life-long learning that is relevant to the needs of the province. Work in this area will include efforts to increase participation and success rates among Aboriginal students, and programming to improve adult literacy and support persons with special needs.

2. Lead the way in North America in healthy living and physical fitness.

There is a strong relationship between a society's level of education and both its health status and life expectancy rates.

3. Build the best system of support in Canada for persons with disabilities, special needs, children at risk, and seniors.

The post-secondary system trains physicians, nurses and other professionals who provide health care and assistance to British Columbias throughout their lives. Student financial assistance programs provide incentives to graduates of these programs to practice in underserved regions of the province. The post-secondary system also provides programs to assist persons with special needs develop skills necessary to participate fully in the B.C. economy and society.

4. Lead the world in sustainable environmental management, with the best air and water quality, and the best fisheries management — bar none.

An excellent environment for research and innovation will enable researchers at post-secondary institutions to expand efforts to develop clean energy options and fuel cell technology, and improve environmental management and conservation practices.

5. Create more jobs per capital than anywhere else in Canada.

Current and future investments in research and innovation will lead to new commercial applications, expanding job opportunities around the province. Also, the post-secondary system provides the knowledge, skills and training that entrepreneurs need to establish businesses and create jobs.

Ministry Performance Plan Summary

The following diagram illustrates the alignment between the ministry's goals, objectives and performance measures.

To achieve this objective, the ministry will work to increase the size of the post-secondary system. This is most clearly demonstrated in government's commitment to adding 25,000 student spaces to the public post-secondary system between 2004 and 2010.

Performance Measures:

Progress toward this objective will be tracked with performance measures focusing on the number of student spaces at public post-secondary institutions, on the number of credentials awarded, on post-secondary graduate rates and on university admissions requirements.

To achieve this objective, the ministry will work with post-secondary institutions to ensure equitable opportunity for all students to have access to post-secondary education. The ministry will also work to expand degree-granting opportunities available in British Columbia, and will continue helping students manage the costs of post-secondary education through student financial assistance programs.

These efforts are demonstrated in a range of ongoing initiatives and commitments. The BC Loan Reduction Program will help students — particularly those most in need — manage the costs of post-secondary education. The ministry is working with institutions and Aboriginal groups to increase post-secondary participation rates among Aboriginal people. Recent legislative changes have strengthened consumer protection for private career training students while reducing the regulatory burden on private career training institutions, enabling these institutions to devote more resources to students' needs and less to red tape. And in 2004, government launched a major new initiative to improve literacy in the province, a component of which will see British Columbia double its contribution to the federal/provincial Adult Literacy Cost-Shared Program from $700,000 to $1.4 million.

Performance Measures:

Progress toward this objective will be tracked with three performance measures. The first reflects post-secondary participation rates in the province. The second measure is the number and per cent of post-secondary students that are Aboriginal. The third measure is the number of student spaces in developmental programs.

To achieve this objective, the ministry will work with post-secondary institutions to facilitate cooperation across the system and to ensure students are able to complete their education and training in a timely manner. The ministry will also work to ensure timely processing of student financial aid applications.

Performance Measures:

Progress toward this objective will be tracked with three performance measures. The first is the proportion of university students who complete degree programs within a set timeframe. The second focuses on student satisfaction with the transfer system, which enables students to transfer between institutions and have credits earned at one institution count toward the completion of programs at another. The third is a measure of the time it takes to process student financial aid applications.

To achieve this objective the ministry will work with post-secondary institutions to ensure that the high standards of excellence in British Columbia's post-secondary system are maintained and enhanced, and that post-secondary education in the province is meeting students' needs.

Performance Measures:

Progress toward this objective will be tracked with two performance measures. The first focuses on the extent to which former students believe they acquired through their education a range of generic skills considered necessary for a productive life and successful employment. The second measure focuses on former students' assessment of how satisfied they were with their education experience. The ministry is also exploring options for measuring quality in private post-secondary education.

To achieve this objective, the ministry will pursue strategies to increase graduates in strategic skill areas such as health care and engineering. This will involve targeting a portion of the 25,000 student spaces that government will add to the public system by 2010 to specific strategic skill programs. For example, in response to the need for more physicians in the province, an ambitious expansion of the University of British Columbia medical program is underway in partnership with the University of Northern British Columbia and the University of Victoria.

This objective will also be achieved through cooperation between the ministry and post-secondary institutions to ensure educational relevance, enhance student employability, and respond to regional economic needs. For example, the ministry has established an Oil and Gas Education and Training Consortium to bring together government, industry, and post-secondary institutions to provide advice on how to ensure that the training needs of this vital sector of the northern economy are met. Finally, the ministry will continue to provide improved labour market information and products to aid in program development and to assist students making educational choices.

Performance Measures:

Progress toward this objective will be tracked with three performance measures. The first is the number of student spaces in strategic skill programs. The second measure reflects how useful former post-secondary students believe their education was to their employment. The third measure is the unemployment rate for former post-secondary students.

Performance Measures	Baseline	2005/06 Target	2006/07 Target	2007/08 Target
13. Number of student spaces in identified strategic skill programs:
i. Computer science, electrical and computer engineering programs	i. Baseline data for 2001/02: 4,624 targeted FTEs1   Data for 2004/05: 7,109 targeted FTEs	i. 7,934	i. 8,034	i. Maintain or increase
ii. Social/child protection worker programs	ii. Baseline data for 2001/02: 976 targeted FTEs   Data for 2004/05: 1,036 targeted FTEs	ii. 1,050	ii Maintain	ii. Maintain
iii. RNs, LPNs, and RCAs and other allied health programs2	iii. Baseline data for 2001/02: 8,417 targeted FTEs3   Data for 2004/05: 10,703 targeted FTEs	iii. 11,053	iii. 11,403	iii. 11,753
iv. Medical school programs	iv. Baseline data for 2001/02: 488 targeted FTEs   Data for 2004/05: 584 targeted FTEs	iv. 680	iv. 776	iv. 872
14. Student assessment of usefulness of knowledge and skills in performing job	Baseline data for 2001/02:   77.2% of former college, university college & institute students found the knowledge and skills they acquired from their studies very or somewhat useful in performing their job (2002 survey)   88.0% of university baccalaureate graduates found the knowledge, skills and abilities they acquired from university to be very or somewhat useful in work (2002 survey)   Data for 2004/05: 76.5% (college, university college and institute 2004 survey) and 86.3% (university 2004 survey)	Maintain a high level of student assessment (benchmark = 90%4) or demonstrate performance improvement over time5
15. Student outcomes — unemployment rate	Baseline for 2003/04:   9.1% of former college, university college & institute students were unemployed at time of survey (2003 survey)   5.8% of university baccalaureate graduates were unemployed at time of survey (2002 survey)   Data for 2004/05: 8.7% (college, university college and institute, 2004 survey) and 5.3% (university, 2004 survey)	Maintain unemployment rate for former BC post-secondary students below rate for persons with only high school credentials or less6

To achieve this objective the ministry will continue to support research and technological innovation, which contribute to British Columbia's economic, environmental, cultural and social well-being through discovery, innovation, and the creation of knowledge.

The ministry's efforts in this regard are reflected in the mandate to fund provincial post-secondary institutions that conduct basic and applied research, to fund and administer the province's major research infrastructure program — the British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund (BCKDF) — and for liaison with the Leading Edge Endowment Fund (LEEF), which funds research chairs. The ministry also contributes to research through operating grants to universities, a portion of which universities dedicate to research.

Performance Measure:

Progress toward this objective will be tracked with a measure reflecting the success of public post-secondary institutions in competing for federal funding and attracting private investment in research, and reflecting the Province's support for post-secondary research.

Performance Measures	Baseline	2005/06 Target	2006/07 Target	2007/08 Target
16. Funding support for research:	Baseline data for 2001/02:
i. Sponsored research funding from all sources	i. Federal: $168 M Provincial: $34 M Other: $107 M Total: $308 M1	i. Maintain or increase over previous year	i. Maintain or increase over previous year	i. Maintain or increase over previous year
ii. BC proportion of federal awards	ii. BC Proportion in 2001/02: 10% of total federal awards   Data for 2002/03: i. Federal = $229 M Provincial = $84 M Other = $159 M Total = $472 M1   ii. BC proportion in 2002/03: 11.8% of total federal awards	ii. Maintain or increase BC proportion over previous year	ii. Maintain or increase BC proportion over previous year	ii. Maintain or increase BC proportion over previous year

This objective will be achieved by fostering growth in the commercial applications of research and innovation in the province.

Performance Measure:

Progress toward this objective will be tracked with a measure that provides quantitative information about the results and products derived from post-secondary research activity.

The ministry's mandate concerning research, technology and innovation in the province has recently expanded, and work has only just begun on determining how to ensure high quality and efficiency in these areas. One element of this is reflected in the ministry's responsibility for funding BCKDF and LEEF. Further activities to fulfill these objectives will be identified in the months ahead, and these will be outlined in the ministry's 2006/07 – 2008/09 service plan. Similarly, the ministry will work with stakeholders to explore options for tracking progress toward these objectives, and they will form the basis for new measures that will also be included in the 2006/07 – 2008/09 service plan.

Part of the ministry's expanded mandate for research and technology includes funding and overseeing the activities of The British Columbia Innovation Council (BCIC). The BCIC is a Crown agency with a mandate to help expedite the introduction of technology-based products to international markets; to accelerate the transfer of research with economic potential from universities and research institutions to the commercialization process; to partner in the development and promotion of a province-wide strategy for science, innovation and technology; and to build public awareness of the achievements of the province's research sector, and to encourage youth to pursue research- and technology-related careers. The BCIC's goals, objectives, performance measures and targets are described in its service plan, which is available online at: http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2005/sp/crownagency/bcic.pdf.