Introduction 1 McGill University’s experience in planning: lessons that might be learned

Introduction

1

McGill University’s experience in

planning: lessons that might be learned.

Planning: lessons learned

2

Planning, along with decision making, is an integral part of the job of the Vice-chancellor, the Provost, the Vice-presidents, the Deans, the Chairs, the Directors.


3

Planning is based on:– Vision, wisdom, judgment, and

experience;– Solid and clearly understood data.The role of the data is to inform, not to

drive, the planning, be it strategic or tactical.


4

It is a challenge to turn a vast amount of fine grained data into useful business intelligence.

• The senior administrator needs to really understand the data,

• IT project manager needs to really understand the needs of the user.

The only good answer is that they must both invest quality time and effort.


5

Open access to information • to fine grained data• to aggregated/analyzed/filtered data• to analytic toolsDownside: some people will do incorrect analyses with the dataUpside: everybody can check that MY analyses are correct.


6

Administrative and reporting structure is very important.

• Reporting lines• Assignment of responsibility• Flexibility• Good communication at every level

across silos


7

Warning: never forget to take into account• Institutional politics• Personal ambitions• Defense of turfHuman nature has always been a major

factor in success as well as in failure.

About me

Core position: Professor of Physics ( now emeritus )

Past administrative positions:Chair, Department of PhysicsAssociate Dean of ScienceInterim Dean of ScienceAssociate Provost – responsibilities included• Courses and academic programs• Student affairs, Admissions, Registry, Residences, …

Interim Registrar

8

About McGill University

• Founding date of McGill University: 1821 • Degrees granted in 2008-09: 7675• 35,300 students (19 % international,

22 % graduate )• 1,627 tenured/ tenure-track faculty

9


Enrolment by Place of Origin

10


International Rankings :• THES 2009: 18• Shanghai Jiao Tong 2009: 65Canadian Rankings: • Macleans (medical/doctoral) 1

11

The Quebec context

Bachelor Masters DoctoralBishop's U. 567 6 0 Concordia U. 4546 1012 115 U. Laval 4920 1438 283 McGill U. 4090 1198 399 U. Montreal + 6804 2280 409U. Sherbrooke 2523 1020 110 U. Quebec 9272 2328 268 Total 32722 9282 1584

12

The Quebec context

• Government (MELS) university budget envelope = cad$M 2490

• Distribution of operating grants: –most (~4/5)“normed” by weighted or

straight FTE– Some targeted by general priorities, – Some targeted by special priorities.

• Value of a weighted FTE = available envelope divided by the total weighted FTEs

13

The Quebec context

Government data bases (input is audited)• Students: GDEU –complete (except for grades) SRS ;

• Staffing: EPE and SYSPER• Research grants/contracts: SIRU• Buildings and facilities: SILU• Finance: SIFU

14

The Quebec context

15

Vice-Principals (Planning) at McGill University

• 1966-1969 Carl A. Winkler, Planning & Development • 1973-1976 Dale C. Thomson,

Planning • 1976-1981 E.J. Stansbury, Planning • 1981- 1986 E.J. Stansbury, Planning &

Academic Services16

Vice-Principals (Planning) at McGill University

• 1986-1989 Paul Davenport, Planning and Resources • 1989-1997 François Tavenas,

Planning and Resources• …………

17

Heads of Planning at McGill University

• ………… • 2006-2008 Helène Perrault, Associate

Provost (Planning & Budgets)• 2009- Pierre Moreau, Executive

Director, Planning and Institutional Analysis (PIA) and Senior Advisor (Policy Development)

18

University Planning Office: 1990-2000

Institutional analysis – scope:• Space and facilities• Organization table• Student enrolment • staffing, especially academic staff• Research grants • Data exchanges and benchmarking:

AAUDE, G10 (later G13), etc. 19

University Planning Office: 1990-2000

Institutional Analysis: methodology• Fixed census dates• Precise and standardized data definitions • Transparency and open access –McGill Fact Book: open on the web

• Metrics• Space database and tools

20

Budget process before Vice-Principal Tavenas

21

The PBA budget model

• Data and analysis: UPO / VP(Planning ).• Faculty budgets– Initial budget cut to reduce deficit and

generate free money– Substantial part of the allocation is

enrolment driven;– Smaller part is a discretionary allocation; – Changes smoothed over some years

22


• Service unit budgets –Historical plus adjustment.–No formula

• Total scaled to predicted income.• Process iterated several times between

November and May.

23


• Undergraduate FTE is based on courses:FTE = (number of student credit hours

taught by a unit)/30• Graduate FTE (non-thesis) is as above.• Graduate FTE (thesis) is based on

enrolment–Time limits: masters = 1.5 years, PhD =

3 or 4 years. 24


Weighted student units:WSU = (weight of the degree level)*FTECurrent weights are:• Bachelor = 1• Masters = 2• PhD = 3.3

25


• Budget allocated to a faculty = (faculty weight)*(total WSU of the faculty)• Faculty weight is a measure of the

cost of the disciplines in the faculty

26


• Departmental budgets are determined by the Dean, not central administration• The PBA model is not believed to be

sensible for units smaller than faculties.

27


• Strength:–Predictability–“fairness”–Connection with the government

funding model

28


• Weakness:–Needs driven rather than vision driven–Quantity driven rather than quality

driven–Open to manipulation–Transparency

29

Budget 2003

The PBA budget model was found to be increasingly unsatisfactory for McGill’s purposes, and was abandoned around 2003.

30

Senior Administration

1997. • The position of Vice-Principal (planning)

is left unfilled.• University Planning Office reports to both

VP Academic and VPAdmin & Finance).• The budget is back in the hands of

VP(Admin & Finance)

31


The “Provostial” model of university administration is introduced. • <2001 : “Vice-Principal(Academic)”• 2001: “Vice-Principal(Academic) and

Provost”• 2003: “Provost”

32


The “Provostial” model of university administration is completed. • 2007: Provost is responsible for the

budget• 2009: new Office of the Budget -

reporting to the Provost

33

Current budget model

Current budget model. Its pillars are:• a strategic plan (vision),• faculty compacts, including–academic renewal–enrolment targets

• multi-year budget (incl. deficit reduction targets)

34


• Compared to PBA model:–The form: very different–The substance: much the same–The difference is the starting point for

the budget iterations–Budget was and is “Research driven” • ( please explain)

35


• Faculty compacts– Iterative discussions between Provost

and Deans– Informed by data analysis ( and

projections ??? ), performance indicators, benchmarks, ….–Constrained by operating budget from

the government 36

3 Science Departments

37

Dept. Professors UG FTE GR FTEComputer Science

28 123 45

Earth & Planetary

11 107 10

Psychology 33 500 33

Central offices -- planning

38

• Office of Planning and Institutional Analysis Executive DirectorProvost

• Office of the Budget DirectorProvost

• Campus and Space Planning Office AVP(Univ. Services) Vice-Principal(Admin&Finance)

Central offices -- planning

39

• Enrolment Services RegistrarDeputy ProvostProvost

• Information Technology Services CIOVice-Principal(Admin&Finance)

Observations

Our current budget model

40

Observations

“In the old days”.–the best information was based on

direct contact with reality–the information, understanding

and analytic power were all in the head of the decision maker.

41

Observations

At the present time.– Enterprise data systems with a vast amount

of fine grained data– It would be irresponsible not to use this

information–Business Intelligence tools to reduce and

package this information are not (yet?) really satisfactory

42

Observations

Is the quantitative information generated by the BI tools:

• a solid and accurate representation of parts of reality?–I think yes, if we work hard at it;

• a reliable representation of full reality?–I think not, at least not for a long while.

43

• http://mymcgill.mcgill.ca • http://www.mcgill.ca/students/courses/calendars/ • http://www.mcgill.ca/pia/mcgillfactbook

44

Documents

Introduction 1 McGill University’s experience in planning: lessons that might be learned