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Inspire

Strategic plan

Inspire: Okanagan College’s new strategic plan. Join us. 

In 2021, the Okanagan College community and members of our surrounding communities engaged in dialogue and provided input to shape Inspire, our College’s next strategic plan.  

Inspire is the culmination of hundreds of perspectives, conversations, ideas, comments and questions woven together. It outlines Okanagan College’s story, mission, vision, values, responsibilities and commitments. The accompanying roadmap defines the interconnected actions across the institution that will help drive positive change and achieve the goals set forth. 

Inspire is an action-focused plan. Its launch signals the beginning of OC’s next chapter, and an open invitation to the many more conversations that will follow. We invite you to explore the plan below and join us for upcoming conversations about our next steps. We can all play a role in bringing the plan to life and achieving our goals. 

Neil Fassina, President, Okanagan College 
Juliette Cunningham, Chair, Okanagan College Board of Governors 

Our story

We live and work in the unceded territories of the Syilx-Okanagan, Secwepemc, Ktunaxa, and Sinixt. We honour, work with, learn from, and listen to Indigenous communities in creating our story.

Okanagan College is committed to empowering individuals and communities in the region to make positive change through exceptional learning experiences, applied research, and innovation. Students and their communities are at the centre of everything that we do.

Okanagan College has been embedded in the social, cultural, and economic fabric of the region since 1963. We have grown and developed with the region and, in turn, have impacted the growth and development of the region in meaningful ways. Looking forward, we will design intentional change to meet the learning needs of urban, rural, and remote students throughout the region as well as nationally and internationally.

The communities in the region are vibrant, resilient, and inspiring. Demographic, climate, and social changes, limits to affordability, lack of skilled workers, and technological, socio-political, and economic forces will continue to impact regional industries and communities.

Through these challenges, communities will seek out leadership and support; they will look to OC. We owe it to communities, alumni, and present and future learners to answer the call and transform ourselves to meet their needs both as a willing partner and a leader. Building on our reputation of creating access and enabling success for learners throughout their lives, OC will provide leadership, stability, innovation, and the relevant knowledge, skills, and abilities that will be necessary to strengthen the vibrancy, resilience, and sustainability of the region.

Download the plan

Download a pdf version of the strategic plan.

Our mission

We transform lives and communities.

 

 

 

 

 

Our vision

We inspire and empower individuals and communities to strengthen and sustain the social, economic, environmental, and cultural resiliency of the region for current and future generations through the creation and sharing of knowledge.

Our values

Student sitting in the cockpit of a plane

Students first

Creating meaningful life-long educational opportunities of the highest quality for alumni, current, and future students is at the heart of everything we do.

Indigenous printed table cloth with jars fill with herbs

Respect

We welcome, embrace, and celebrate that which make us unique in creating an environment in which every individual is valued, affirming our commitment to human dignity for all.
 

Three students sitting at a table with smiles on their faces

Relationships

We steward meaningful relationships built on a foundation of reciprocity. We are compassionate, empathic, and care for the holistic well-being of students, employees, community members, and the land.

Person wearing a purple top with short while hair holding a traditional drum

Community

We are one College. We enthusiastically embrace the opportunity to work with, learn from, and support everyone we encounter collaboratively and collegially.

Person wearing a colourful top smiling

Courage

We are courageous in our actions in areas that contribute to positive change in our communities and beyond. We have the courage to be vulnerable. We are truthful, sincere, and act ethically with honesty and fairness.

Graduate wearing a cap and gown at a convocation ceremony

Distinction

We choose activities in which we can achieve excellence and positively impact society.
 

Our responsibilities

We pledge to weave Indigenous world views into all aspects of college life as part of our journey toward reconciliation. This includes our learning and research environments, our physical, cultural, social, and spiritual spaces on campuses, and our structures, policies, and practices. We remain committed to working with,  listening to, and learning from Indigenous communities throughout this journey.

 

We will strengthen our role as a leader in equity, diversity, inclusion, and social justice (EDISJ). We will strengthen our culture of inclusion by increasing the equitable and inclusive participation of all diversity groups including historically and currently marginalized peoples in every aspects of college life. We will weave EDISJ principles throughout policy, practice, and action in all aspects of college life and throughout the communities we serve.

We will strengthen our role as a leader in sustainability in all aspects of college life. As an active partner in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, we are accountable to meet or exceed expectations of sustainability in our physical spaces, energy usage, and our daily activities. Our financial health will be improved by sustainably prioritizing and allocating resources to our activities.

 

We will empower employees to be resilient in support of a resilient College. Okanagan College’s employees are our bedrock. Every day, they bring to life the activities that transform lives and communities. We will improve employee engagement, strengthen our leadership and talent management practices, optimize employee value proposition, and become one of BC’s top employers through demonstrating commitment to the holistic well-being and development of employees and empowering accountable leadership throughout the College.

 

We will be effective and efficient. We will improve employees’ effectiveness toward our goals by optimizing workflows, generating value-based solutions, reimagining policies, practices, and governance to be agile and student-focused, embracing complementary technology and physical infrastructures, strengthening our data and analytics practices, and supporting effective change leadership.

Our commitments

We transform lives through inclusive and equitable access. We will increase the participation and success rates of historically and currently marginalized student populations by removing the systemic barriers to empower individuals to realize their potential through higher learning.

We transform lives through individualized life-long learning partnerships. We will improve student success and engagement by individualizing the lifelong learning journey, placing the student authentically at the center of everything we do, and demonstrating compassion for the holistic wellbeing of students.

We transform regional communities through integration and focus. We will amplify the College’s impact on the regional communities by integrating and focusing our teaching and research efforts on areas that will ease regional challenges, strengthen regional opportunities, and enable current and emergent economic and social sectors in the region.

Engage with Inspire

Join a virtual session

Thanks to all those who attended the Inspire unveiling AMA (ask me anything) sessions in Feb. Stay tuned for future Inspire connect sessions. 

Connect with us

If you can’t attend the sessions, but have a question or comment on Inspire, you are encouraged to write to President Fassina directly: president@okanagan.bc.ca. 

Inspire your virtual meeting with backgrounds

See yourself in the plan by downloading a virtual background to use on Teams and Zoom.

Click on the images to download the background.