About the Strategic Plan, vision, and commitments

Across all areas of the University, there is a clear call for creative, collaborative, and responsible change, to pursue new approaches and reimagine existing ones.

The plan, therefore, centres on purposeful change, not change for its own sake. Not every ongoing effort is detailed here; effective practices will continue to be sustained.

This plan highlights what will be done differently, what needs to begin, what needs to conclude, and what requires a new approach.

This plan is shaped by fast-changing, challenging contexts. Resources are finite and with multiple demands upon them. The University must choose among competing actions. Taking into consideration the most pressing needs and opportunities, organisational capacity, and Mount Allison’s aspirations for the future, the plan provides clear direction for those choices.

Guided by responsibilities to each other and to future generations, this plan reflects choices made with care, grounded in ethical stewardship and community.

Informed by extensive input from across the diverse Mount Allison community, this plan reflects a commitment to development and adaptability, responding to dynamic and evolving realities. Here at the outset, we provide a sample of key directions and actions featured throughout the plan.

Deliver student experience that is second-to-none

Elevating the student experience from exceptional to extraordinary, Mount Allison expands pathways for learners to strengthen the knowledge, creativity, and leadership skills that will equip them for the future.

The plan calls us to: 

• Elevate accessible and integrated ecosystems that foster student success in four areas: career and life-skills, academic success, student wellness, and extra-curricular engagement.
• Deepen students’ capacity to work critically, ethically, and responsibly with emerging technologies and artificial intelligence by offering dynamic pathways toward digital literacy, fluency, and mastery.
• Build transformative, sector-leading, first-year programs that support student readiness for life and studies at Mount Allison. 

Foster a community of care, well-being, and professional development

Mount Allison’s future success depends on nurturing a culture of care and well-being, grounded in transparency, respect, and trust: principles that foster growth and a sense of belonging.

These steps will help achieve this goal:

• Co-create equitable systems and relationships that honour the knowledge, leadership, and rights of diverse communities, fostering a safe, inclusive environment through effective practices, policies, systems, and training.
• Expand opportunities for high impact professional, career, and leadership development.
• Forge greater opportunities for alumni to be active participants emphasizing lifelong learning, volunteerism, and philanthropy.

Offer a liberal arts and sciences education focused on the future

Rooted in Mount Allison’s exceptional liberal arts and sciences traditions, forward-looking programming prepares students to thrive in a rapidly changing world.

The following actions will guide this work:

• Expand on the University's proven success in facilitating complementary professional programs and credentials.
• Engage collaboratively in examining and integrating the tools, resources, and supports for the responsible adoption, critical evaluation, and ethical use of digital technologies and AI in our programs, pedagogy, and research, equipping students for success.
• Promote and enhance in-demand lifelong and continuing education opportunities for alumni, early- mid-career professionals, and community members.

Power a sustainable, agile, and digitally-honed organisation

A sustainable and vibrant future for Mount Allison depends on systems, structures, and resources that strengthen the capacity of the campus community.

The following actions will support this goal:

• Foster a transparent evidence-informed culture at all levels to ensure effective and responsive decision-making. 
• Develop an integrated enrollment strategy coordinating marketing, recruitment, retention, and university planning.
• Build a campus masterplan embodying accessibility and net-zero goals.

Achieving success across these initiatives — and throughout the entire scope of this plan — will not only uphold Mount Allison’s enduring legacy of excellence, but also propel the University to new heights, inspiring transformative impact and distinction for generations to come. 

Our vision starts with a holistic academic experience focused on the future-readiness of students. A Mount Allison education strives to develop the skills learners need to succeed and, as leaders, shape a better future.

The liberal arts and sciences serve as a cornerstone for the cultivation of critical, creative, and collaborative thinking and doing. They provide students with the capabilities needed to analyse complex issues with integrity, supported by comprehensive knowledge and a commitment to lifelong learning, personal growth, and enduring values.

These academic foundations enrich the educational experiences of our students, equipping them for future professional pursuits and the meaningful contributions they will make throughout their lives.

In an era of global uncertainty and polarization, increasingly influenced by digital and artificial intelligence, the human-centred competencies fostered through the liberal arts and sciences have never been more important than at this very time in human history.

Because of our liberal arts and sciences core, Mount Allison uniquely positions our alumni as leaders and contributors in all walks of life, enhancing our region, province, country, and world.

Much like our approach to developing our students, it is equally vital that Mount Allison be future-ready, with the tools, supports, and mindset to forge our future prosperity.

At Mount Allison, student thriving is approached holistically.

This encompasses accessible opportunities in study, research, field work, internships, as well as social, artistic, and recreational pursuits, all within a residential environment that offers comprehensive academic and well-being supports to facilitate success.

Mount Allison stands apart in the connections that students make with faculty, peers, and alumni, and in the richness of the undergraduate experience: our academic rigour and excellence are fundamental, our extracurriculars are diverse and varied, and student experience is at the core of all we do. 

Mount Allison is energized by its people. We are at our best when all work together in meaningful ways with the support, tools, training, systems, and connections they need.

Employee thriving is enhanced when people can focus their time and attention on what matters most, ensuring the best possible experience for our students and each other. This requires efficient and intentional ways of doing day-to-day business and effective communication across the University.

Staff and faculty are motivated to strive for excellence when their mental and physical well-being are nourished. 

Thriving students and employees are nurtured by a thriving campus community, with connections among students, professors, staff, alumni, the wider municipality of Tantramar, and local and regional Indigenous communities. These relationships foster our sense of belonging and lifelong connection. 

Alumni are a vital part of the University, offering support networks and mentoring to current students. They exude generosity, giving back to the University that helped shape their lives.

Through continuing education, Mount Allison sustains connections with alumni and invites new members into our community of lifelong learners.

Mount Allison enriches life beyond its walls and grounds; our faculty, students, and alumni change the world.

Our students are our raison d’être: we place students, student life, and student experience at the heart of all we do.

When we make choices that enable our students to have a transformative experience, it benefits every aspect of our community.

Mount Allison enhances students’ abilities in critical and creative thinking and hones their ability to solve problems using interdisciplinary perspectives.

We fuel their curiosity and challenge them to reflect critically and thoughtfully as they build essential skills for life and work.

Our transformative student experience is sustained by an immersive, dynamic campus and residential community that provides opportunities for personal discovery, exploration, and growth inside and outside the classroom.

Mount Allison is a campus and community where Reconciliation, accessibility, diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism are lived values.

Acknowledging the presence of systemic barriers, the plan affirms the commitment to addressing them through deliberate ongoing initiatives and relationship-building. These efforts include enhancing representation throughout the University, collaboratively creating university services that effectively respond to the varied needs of our community, and integrating these principles and relationships into curricula, culture, and campus programming. 

This includes acting with the knowledge that Reconciliation, Indigenization, and Decolonization are distinct yet interwoven obligations. Mount Allison is committed to Reconciliation, actively working to grow, nurture, and sustain respectful relationships with Indigenous Peoples, acknowledging the harmful history and presence of colonialism, building trust, and acting for societal change.

As it works toward Indigenization, Mount Allison intentionally encourages the interweaving of Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing in our learning, research, and work. Working toward Decolonization means Mount Allison will critically engage around colonial structures and assumptions, collaboratively creating positive change through listening, learning, and accountability.

Mount Allison is committed to organisational and operational excellence that is adaptable and proactive.

This excellence includes: enriching human capacity and creativity; responsibly, ethically, and critically streamlining processes through technological and digital transformation; utilizing data-informed and timely decision-making; and identifying and responding effectively to emerging trends.

Operational excellence underpins frictionless university experiences that are user-centred, efficient, responsive, and sustainable.

Mount Allison is committed to fiscal sustainability so that we always thrive, serving students and our academic mission for generations to come.

Long term sustainability requires us to enhance revenue generation, robustly (re)align resources to needs and strategic priorities, transparently engage in data-informed budget processes and decision-making, focus on strategic enrolment management and marketing, and pursue intrepid advancement and fundraising.

Environmental sustainability is also critical to our approach. We must make informed decisions that support the air, land, and waters that surround us, and adjust our practices to nurture environmental longevity and climate health.

This commitment extends to supporting students, staff, and faculty in identifying and carrying out sustainable practices and initiatives.