VIU Launches Five-Year Strategic Plan

VIU’s new five-year Strategic Plan, People, Place, Potential, is the result of the commitment and creativity of VIU’s on-campus and off-campus communities.

November 3, 2021 - 05:15pm

More than 2,000 staff, students, and community members participated in a consultation process that inspired the new plan.

Vancouver Island University (VIU) has a new Strategic Plan, People, Place, Potential, to guide its activities over the next five years.

Throughout 2020, VIU reached out to students, alumni, employees and the wider community to hear their views on the University’s strengths and their vision for its future. The strategic planning process has led to a new Strategic Plan for 2021-26, which will help VIU build an even more powerful experience for students.

The new Strategic Plan grew out of the consultation with more than 2,000 people, who shared their thoughts about what makes VIU unique. As a result, VIU commits to continuing its personal connection with learners and affirms its relationship to this place and its cultural, social, economic and environmental roots. The new Strategic Plan reaffirms VIU’s commitment to access, to ensure the realization of the potential of all learners.

“The Strategic Plan will help us chart the course to become the University we want to be. The Strategic Plan will guide our decision making, ensuring strong stewardship of our resources,” explains Dr. Deborah Saucier, VIU President and Vice-Chancellor. “Building on our strengths, VIU envisions a unique educational experience that is more accessible, more inclusive and more deeply rooted in community.”

The plan includes three core values – People, Place and Potential – and six commitments for the next five years:

Welcome a larger and more diverse population of learners;
Become a more inclusive and healthier place for work and study;
Grow to be the region’s hub for research and expertise;
Build stronger partnerships with Indigenous communities;
Become a leader in learning for new generations; and
Expand life-enriching and career-building experiences.

The Strategic Plan is the result of the commitment and creativity of VIU’s on-campus and off-campus communities. The consultation process launched in March 2020, just two weeks before the move online, and included in-person meetings, email, surveys, Zoom videoconferencing and an online engagement platform.

“The plan wouldn’t have been possible without that participation,” says Saucier. “The ideas and stories from our communities allowed us to focus on what matters most to VIU. The result is a strategic direction that will guide us into the future.”