With a new fiscal year well underway, we are writing today to provide a recap of our FY23 Strategic Plan accomplishments, and to update you about the year ahead.
The BCIT Strategic Plan articulates three commitments that represent our core areas of activity and accountability to our students, faculty, staff, and partners. We are intent on being a people-focused organization that delivers future-proof applied education, amplifying our impact through globally relevant connections. These commitments create the structure of our Strategic Plan through nine initiatives.
During year four of implementation, we continued to make significant progress towards each of our commitments—through 21 deliverables—while acknowledging our fiscal and operational constraints. As we navigated through the pandemic and adapt to the post-pandemic reality, some timelines and deliverables have been adjusted to reflect the related challenges. Progress on each of the deliverables is reported to faculty and staff via the bi-weekly Strategic Plan Implementation Update emails. These updates can be viewed under the actions tab of the Strategic Plan website.
Highlights from FY23
While our year-end summary and FY23 Q4 report provides more detail on our progress, we’d like to celebrate a few FY23 highlights with you.
Commitment 1: People-focused organization
- Advanced the People Vision initiatives, such as development of tools and opportunities to support change management, leadership and decision-making, and employee onboarding.
- Continued to successfully pilot and evaluate the ability to support a hybrid work environment.
- Developed an Associate Certificate in Polytechnic Teaching to support BCIT faculty in innovative pedagogical approaches and instructional strategies.
Commitment 2: Future-proof applied education
- Significantly expanded BCIT’s microcredential offerings, with over 60 programs and courses now available.
- Opened the Tech Collider space, at the Downtown Campus, to provide students an opportunity to work on real world technology projects with industry partners.
- Revitalized the Burnaby Campus through ongoing work under the Campus Development Plan: Health Sciences Centre welcomed its first cohort of students in Fall 2022; the adjacent Student Plaza was completed in Spring 2023; construction began on the Tall Timber Student Housing project; and the design process has begun for the Trades and Technology Complex.
Commitment 3: Globally relevant connections
- Advanced the Indigenous Vision with the development of additional training modules and continued to build relationships and engage the community through a variety of initiatives.
- Completed current state review and documentation of BCIT’s application and admission in preparation for EducationPlannerBC future state design.
- Launched three self-directed learning modules on Human Rights 101, Relearning Gender, and Anti-Racism Training to further awareness and conversation around respect, diversity, and inclusion.
Year 5 Priorities
Identifying our deliverables for Year 5 of the Strategic Implementation Plan are underway and will be reported back to the community once finalized.
As a community, we’re all accountable for advancing the Strategic Plan, and the progress over the past four years is a reflection of our collective efforts. Thank you for your continued support and look to the bi-weekly Strategic Plan Implementation Updates to follow our progress.
Thank you,
Trish Pekeles
Chief Financial Officer and Vice President, Finance and Corporate Services and Implementation Lead, BCIT Strategic Plan
Jennifer Figner
Interim Vice President, Academic and Implementation Lead, BCIT Strategic Plan