President's Column

Happy New Year!

by Bonnie Patterson
President and Vice Chancellor

September always brings the excitement and nervousness of a new academic year. We are pleased to welcome more than 4,900 individual students to Trent this fall, just over 1,500 of whom are new to our university. With the mix of full-time and part-time registrations converted to full-time equivalents (FTES), it appears we are up some 280 FTES over the previous year and approximately 120 over our budget expectations. That is good news for Trent as we struggle with deficits while implementing a plan for recovery. Congratulations to all staff, faculty, alumni and students who have actively participated in various recruitment and promotional activities. Our special thanks for the leadership of our Registrar and staff for their focused efforts.

In addition to our new students, we welcome Cheryl and Bryan Davies as alumni-in-residence. Living at Champlain College, they have assumed the task of establishing an alumni mentoring program to provide advice and guidance to current students, building closer ties to individual alumni but also the Alumni Association itself.

Ontario is on the verge of experiencing the greatest increase in demand for university in 30 years. Predictions indicate that enrolments in this province are likely to grow by an additional 88,900 students (40 per cent) by 2010. The "double cohort" phenomenon - which is to peak in 2004-5 - will occur in concert with a growth in 18-to-24-year-olds, increasing rates of participation in university education and changing workplace requirements that demand higher educational attainment. Both government and universities will have their work cut out for them to meet the public's expectation that all qualified students will be able to obtain a university education.

The first government response was included in the May provincial budget when it announced a new $742-million capital program called the Super-Build Growth Fund. According to papers released, these dollars will support new construction as well as more efficient utilization of classrooms, labs and other facilities. We await details of the program and a call for proposals that we are told are imminent. A small task force under the leadership of Senate Budget Committee member Harry Kitchen (Economics) has worked through August and September on a draft concept for Trent that would allow us to meet expected yet unconfirmed criteria that include expansion in student places. While considerably more work will be needed on a final submission, I am appreciative of the conceptual work being done by this group. From summer discussions with our new Minister and Deputy, it is anticipated that we will need to proceed quickly with our submission once guidelines are released.

In late August I was able to further press our case for an independent School of Education with Minister Dianne Cunningham. Board of Governors chair Gary Wolff accompanied me to the meeting where we secured the Minister's commitment to review our request as early as possible this fall. We are optimistic and encouraged by this as well as the continual daily enquiries about this proposed program.

October will be a busy and exciting month at Trent. We look forward to the official opening of the new Symons Campus bookstore on Oct. 1, an official celebration of our 35th anniversary as a university, the public launch of our $17-million capital campaign and the establishment of the Trent Legacy Society. These and many other exciting initiatives will take Trent into the new millennium. I look forward to your participation.