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Campus Bulletin

October 02, 2006

U of G Submits MYA to Provincial Government

The University has completed its first multi-year agreement (MYA) with the provincial government.

It outlines Guelph’s goals for maintaining and improving quality, access and accountability over the next three years. It builds on the interim accountability agreement between U of G and the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities pertaining to quality investment funding for 2005/06 that was posted on the registrar’s web page in May.

MYAs are a new requirement for funding under the provincial “Reaching Higher” plan. In 2005, the Ontario government announced that it’s investing $6.2 billion in colleges and universities in the next five years as part of a plan to ensure greater funding stability and predictability. In return, post-secondary institutions must submit agreements that specify actions, commitments and reporting methods to achieve desired outcomes.

“This was a significant undertaking,” says Maureen Mancuso, vice-president (academic). “But the extensive work that we had already done as a university on initiatives such as integrated planning, the White Paper and the President’s Task Force on Accessibility positioned us well to meet the new requirements.” She adds that the commitments included in the MYA are based on current, ongoing initiatives at the University.

Brian Pettigrew, assistant vice-president (institutional research and planning) and registrar, says that the MYA supplements rather than replaces existing performance indicators and accountability arrangement, and that U of G incorporated existing programs into the new plan.

Guelph’s MYA was presented to the Vice-President’s Advisory Council and to the Senate Committee on University Planning and will be summarized at Senate Tuesday.

A copy of U of G’s agreement is available online and in the executive offices on the fourth floor of the University Centre.

More information about the government’s “Reaching Higher” plan and requirements is also available online.