S.09-113

For Information

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VICE-PRESIDENT, ACADEMIC ANI) PROVOST

MEMO

ATTENTION:

Senate

FROM: ?

Jonathan Driver, Vice-President, Academic & Provost

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RE: ?

Process to Review Agreement with Fraser Internation

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DATE: ?

September 15, 2009

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A review of the operations of Fraser International Cotge, a their impacts on Simon

Fraser University, must be undertaken prior to the en date o the current contract?

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term. The term of the current contract ends March 31,

At the March 2006 meeting of Senate at which the academic affiliation with IBT Ltd (now

Navitas), the parent company of FIC was proposed, the following commitments were

made as part of the motion to approve the agreement with FIC.

By June 2010, the Vice-President Academic will prepare a report for Senate with a

recommendation on whether the F/C affiliation agreement should be renewed in March

2011. The report will address the following issues:

The academic performance of students who transfer from F/C to SFU;

The number of students who transfer to SFU, their country of origin, the

programs into which they transfer, and the number who transfer to other

institutions;

Actions taken by SFU to increase its own international student recruitment and

increase undergraduate student retention;

An analysis of increases to Departmental workloads resulting from academic

oversight of F/C;

Any concerns that F/C instructors have regarding working conditions;

The use of funds received by SFU as a consequence of the F/C affiliation.

The commitment was made that the report containing the information above would be

provided to Senate in sufficient time so that the findings would form part of the overall

discussion about renewal of the relationship with the College.

As part of its regular business, the SFU-FIC Academic Advisory Committee produces

SIMON FRASER

UNIVERSITY

THINKING OF THE WORLD

OFFICE OFT HE VICE-PRESIDENT, ACADEMIC AND PROVOST

annual reports to Senate, expecting that information included in the reports would form

a key part of a larger report, prior to contract renewal. Thus far, two annual reports

(reflecting the 2006-2007, and 2007-2008 academic years) have been produced and

forwarded to Senate. A third annual report will be produced in Fall, 2009.

Although a detailed process for review of the academic aspects of the SFU-FIC

relationship has not yet been finalized, in addition to addressing the questions above,

the review will include:

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data on enrollments, retention, transfers and graduation rates;

• feedback from FIC students (current, and transferred to SFU);

• data from a survey of FIC instructors;

• ealuation data from SFU departmental Course Coordinators;

• feedback from SFU's participating departments; and

• a summary of feedback received from consultations with the SFU community

(consultations to be led by the Vice-President Academic and the Associate Vice-

President- Students and International in fall 2009).

SFU has lengthy and positive experience with the process of regular external review of

academic units. The ER is a useful model to adopt for the review of the relationship

with FIC. Adapting and utilizing this model, with external and internal reviewers

working with terms of reference related to the questions above, would provide my office

and Senate with an objective review of how the relationship with FIC is working. A

document paralleling a department self-study" would be prepared by staff of the

VPA's office prior to the review, supplemented by survey data and information collected

from community consultations, Institutional Research and Planning, SFU International,

Student Services, FIC, and from academic units involved in offering courses at FtC. SFU

and FtC would need to reach agreement regarding the composition of the review team.

It is anticipated that the review process would take place early in the 2009- 2010

academic year, thereby allowing sufficient time for the necessary information to be

collected and compiled for discussion at Senate no later than June, 2010.

Draft Terms of Reference for the Review

The purpose of the external review process is to examine the extent to which:

• The quality of FIC's teaching is high and there are measures in place to ensure

standards are maintained at SFU levels or better;

• The quality of the student experience at FtC is high, and students leave FtC well

prepared for study at SFU;

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FIC is meeting the recruitment objectives agreed to with SFU in the affiliation

agreement;

SIMON FRASEfl UNIVERSITY

THINKING OF THE WORLD

()iuICE 01

1 lIE VICE-I'RESIDIiNT, ACADEMIC AND PROVOST

• The qualifications and working conditions of FIC instructors are comparable to

those of SFU sessional instructors;

• There are adequate resources and facilities provided to support teaching,

including laboratory equipment, computing, and preparation space;

• The involvement of SFU instructors in quality assurance processes is

reasonable in terms of work load;

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SFU academic units involved with FIC are satisfied with the relationship, the

processes, and the funds provided to the department by the VPA office.

The Review Committee will address the specific questions required by Senate, assess

the academic and administrative linkages between SFU and FIC, and comment on

strengths and weaknesses, on opportunities for change and/or improvement, and on

quality and effectiveness including safeguards for academic standards.

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The Review Committee should make essential, formal, prioritized recommendations

that address major issues, with reference to the resources available and to the

objectives described in the SFU-FIC partnership agreement.

Review team members will be chosen according to the following principles:

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Faculty members with expertise in international education or international

issues

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No administrative role at SFU at the level of Chair or higher

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No previous involvement with Fraser International College or Navitas

Education Ltd.

• A minimum of three reviewers, with at least one internal and one external

reviewer

In summary, Senate can expect to receive the following documents when it considers the

recommendation from the Vice-President Academic concerning the advisability of renewing,

modifying, or not renewing the relationship between SFU and FIC:

• Three annual reports to Senate

• A self-study document containing data relevant to a review of the SFU-FIC

relationship

• The instructions to the external review team

• The report of the external review team

• A response to the external review from the Vice-President Academic

SIMON FRASOR UNIVERSITY

THINKING OF THE WORLD