Discovery

Strengthen our connections among students, faculty, and staff.

Where teaching and research come together, daring discovery occurs. Discovery includes the development and dissemination of new knowledge, as well as the personal insights that arise from active learning. An empowering education provides our students with the skills and self-confidence required to navigate the world around them throughout their time at the University of Regina and beyond.

GOAL: All students will participate in experiential learning opportunities.¹

Objectives

a) Excellence in Teaching and Research

We value and support a learning environment with the services required to allow for high-quality teaching, research, and learning that strengthens the academic successes of our students and faculty and improves the lives of Canadians. We have an unwavering commitment to discovering new knowledge through two-eyed seeing, that is the co-learning of Indigenous and western worldviews, and through the alignment of research and teaching.

In pursuit of this objective, we also aim to improve opportunities for students to gain meaningful interactions with faculty, staff, and communities; well-rounded learning experiences; and career-readiness.

• Support and value research and creative work.
• Support and value excellence in teaching.
• Engagement with varied disciplines at the University to apply skills in interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and transdisciplinary projects.
• Enhance supportive technologies for research and teaching.
• Promote and adopt EDI principles within the research and creative enterprises. 

b) Student Success

Collaborative and integrated discovery will provide our students with the skillset they need to succeed on their chosen path. We aim to help all students achieve their goals and strengthen their ability to connect with learning opportunities in ways that ensure they develop the independence and agency to pursue their life and career goals. We will discover and meet students’ needs and provide them with the support they require to thrive in their programs and graduate in a timely manner. 

• Prioritize the investigation of current retention and graduation rates of undergraduate and graduate students and identify tangible activities to increase these rates.
• Strengthen on- and off-campus supports for enhancements to teaching and opportunities for experiential learning for all students.
• Create and implement a retention plan for students that includes specific strategies for increasing retention and graduation rates, prioritizes student success programs, and identifies students who would benefit the most from interventions.
• Create and implement a strategic enrolment plan for the entire University that includes goals, strategies, and tactical work plans that include returns on investment.
• Provide supports (e.g. UR Guarantee) to graduate career-ready students.
• Evaluate distance and distributed learning opportunities and technologies to enhance flexible learning options for students.

c) Internationalization

We strengthen the impact of our discoveries when we recognize and incorporate international points of view and develop strong relationships with individuals of diverse backgrounds. By integrating international, intercultural, and global dimensions into our discovery efforts we will broaden the perspectives and heighten the impact of our collective discovery. We will push the boundaries of discovery by creating globally aware citizens through: the inclusion of international students and research collaborators; the promotion of student, faculty, and staff mobility; and the incorporation of local and global worldviews into our teaching and research.

• Create a diverse and inclusive community through targeted recruitment and support of students, faculty, and staff.
• Encourage, support, and promote internationalization through the integration of diverse worldviews into discovery, through research, teaching, and partnerships.
• Encourage, support, and promote student, faculty, and staff research and scholarship abroad.
• Invest in technology that allows for international participation in teaching, research, and learning programming with an awareness of environmental impacts.
• Attract and retain international students and research collaborators.