UCalgary celebrates successes and looks forward to future with launch of the Community Report

As the University of Calgary sends its Eyes High strategic plan into the sunset, the university is now looking to collaborate with the campus community to prioritize future goals.

UCalgary President Ed McCauley discussed the tremendous successes of the Eyes High Strategy 2017-2022, in Monday’s Community Report.

“What’s happening at UCalgary was predicted,” says Dr. McCauley, PhD. “Ten years ago, we set out a goal to become a top-five research university. We are. We set out a goal for deeper community integration. It’s happening. We aimed to raise the funds that are now transforming our campuses. We did. And we set out to improve the student experience and focus on research. We have.”

UCalgary has become a top-five research university in Canada, becoming the youngest university to ever do so. In 2021 alone, the university received $504 million in sponsored research funding — this is up 20 per cent since 2017. UCalgary’s Faculty of Kinesiology was named the top North American school for sports-science research for the second time in 2021. Since 2017, the number of Canada Research Chairs at the university has grown by 16 per cent, and the number of postdoctoral scholars has grown by 10 per cent.

The university also raised $1.41 billion through its Energize campaign, the third-highest total ever for a Canadian university, which McCauley says is a testament to UCalgary's community support. It’s a reciprocal relationship, too, as the university’s economic impact is $16.5 billion per year.

“We’re not just the University of Calgary,” says McCauley. “We’re the university for Calgary.”

The university has embraced the entrepreneurial spirit of the city in which it is situated. UCalgary is the number-one university in Canada in creating startup companies. The innovation ecosystem created at UCalgary has seen the number of patents increase by 52 per cent over the course of the past five years, and just last year the university made 315 inventions.

Undergraduate degrees awarded annually increased by 25 per cent since 2017, and graduate degrees increased by 55 per cent in the same time period.

Now, the university is looking forward to the future, and is looking for input from students, faculty, staff, and the broader Calgary community.

“We have opened consultations on our next strategic plan,” says McCauley. “We want it to be bold and continue to differentiate the University of Calgary from our peers.”

UCalgary’s next strategic plan will set the university’s goals and how they’ll be achieved until the year 2030. It will establish the shared mission and the vision for the university.

Everyone is encouraged to get involved in the consultation process and shape the future priorities of the university.

Members of the campus community can get involved in the consultation process in a number of ways, including taking an online survey, participating in workshops, and providing written feedback. Additional opportunities to get involved will be made available in the coming weeks. The process will run through to the spring.  

“Eyes High served us — and Calgary — well. But every end is an opportunity,” says McCauley. “To shape something, to challenge something, to improve something. Which is what we will do with our community, for our community, and in our community.

“I cannot wait to learn where Calgary thinks we should go next.”