In accordance with the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC) Institutional Quality Assurance Process (IQAP), this Final Assessment Report (FAR) provides a synthesis of the external evaluation and internal response and assessments of the undergraduate programs offered by the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities in BA English, Culture and Communication (ECC). This report identifies the significant strengths of the programs, together with opportunities for improvement and enhancement, and sets out and prioritizes the recommendations that have been selected for implementation.
This report includes an Implementation Plan that identifies who will be responsible for approving the recommendations set out in the Final Assessment Report; who will be responsible for providing any resources entailed by those recommendations; any changes in organization, policy or governance that will be necessary to meet the recommendations and who will be responsible for acting on those recommendations; and timelines for acting on and monitoring the implementation of those recommendations.
Overview of Program Review Process
The Program Self-Study Report was completed on 27 September 2023 for the program under review (BA English, Culture and Communication; Minor, Concentration, Honours and Major). The self-study contained degree level expectations for these programs, an analytical assessment of the programs, course outlines, program-related data, survey data from the Office of Quality Assurance and appendices with sample examinations and CVs of faculty members. Two arm’s-length external reviewers (Dr. Jacqueline Jenkins, University of Calgary, and Dr. Andre Furlani, Concordia University) were selected from a list of possible reviewers and approved by the Deans of Social Sciences and Humanities. An internal reviewer, Dr. Jane Boulden from the Department of Political Sciences, was also selected for participation on the ERC. They reviewed the self-study documentation and conducted an on-site visit to RMC from 6 to 7 November 2023. During the site visit, the ERC met with the VP Academic, the Director of Quality Assurance, the Dean of Social Science and Humanities, the Head of the English, Culture and Communication department and program chair, faculty members, alumni, students registered in the programs under study, and the librarian-in-chief.
The reviewers submitted their report on 21 Jan 2024. In their report, the ERC expresses the opinion that the ECC program is a good program with a committed and highly professional faculty that punches well above its weight in academic achievements.
Significant Strengths and Weaknesses of the Program
The ERC identified a number of strengths of the ECC programs:
- The ERC was extremely impressed with the research accomplishments of the ECC faculty, the commitment to teaching and training future ethical leaders for the CAF;
- The dedication ECC department has demonstrated to building and sustaining collegiality. The ERC saw abundant evidence of collegial practices and the support and respect faculty have for each other, for their students and for the shared goals of the department; and
- ECC as an academic unit demonstrates a clear commitment to RMC’s Strategic Research Plan (draft), specifically in the subtheme of “Society, EDI, Literature and History.”
The ERC identified a number of areas of concern for ECC programs:
- The ECC department is currently experiencing a reduction of available teaching faculty members due to a previous retirement and more retirements are imminent. The reduction in faculty has reduced the pool of faculty available for service, reduced the range of courses, including online offerings, forestalled graduate courses and the development of promising new areas, such as the proposal for a graduate certificate in Culture and Diversity. Faculty renewal needs to be a priority.
- ECC needs to revise its curriculum and program requirements to align with strategic hiring and to build new programming that reflects the urgent changes affecting the discipline nationally and internationally; and
- The ERC heard strong concerns about a perceived imbalance in the set course allotments in the SSH, set at five in some units while nominally set at six for ECC. However, that ERC understands that upper administration recognizes the validity of these concerns and that the RMC will indeed soon establish a more uniform policy, which would coincide with best practices in many Canadian universities
The Program Chair, after consultation with faculty and staff in the programs, submitted a response to the ERC Report in June of 2024. The Dean of Social Sciences and Humanities prepared this Final Assessment Report on 5 July 2024. Specific recommendations are discussed, and follow-up actions and timelines provided.
Summary of the Reviewers’ Recommendations with the Dean’s Responses
The ERC identified several areas of concern or issues that require attention. These issues are discussed in the order that they appear in the ERC Report:
Recommendation 1
Restore faculty strength to level prior to 2018. Develop strategic priorities for hiring that reflect the ECC’s commitment to educating ethical leaders and in relation to urgent new directions in the discipline of English literary studies.
Departmental Response
ECC has created a shortlist for one of two advertised positions before both hiring processes were frozen. This loss of resource renewal will exacerbate existing workload inequities identified by the ERC. These positions are critical to addressing the EDID priorities of the college, including the recommendations of the Arbour Report. The department has submitted an Impact Statement outlining the importance of these positions.
Dean’s Response
As soon as I took office as dean, one of the first measures I adopted was to add a position to the ECC department. The hiring freeze has unfortunately disrupted this hiring process. When it will be lifted, this new position, combined with another vacant position, which can be filled at the same time, will allow the ECC department to have a complete team, add new expertise to the department and diversify the course offering. This will also make it possible to better distribute service tasks.
Recommendation 2
Continue to refine curriculum and program requirements in response to crucial and ongoing disciplinary shifts (BIPOC literature, Indigenous and decolonial studies, gender and sexuality studies) through the hiring priorities that the department has established.
Departmental Response
ECC has paused its curriculum review process so that it may incorporate the ERC recommendations. This curriculum review will begin in the Fall of 2024 and will focus on these identified areas. The department plans to submit changes to Syllabus Committee in Fall 2025.
Dean’s Response:
I encourage the ECC department to implement its curriculum revision project as described above. However, this will only be possible when the planned new hires have joined the department.
Recommendation 3
Redress workload imbalance between ECC and other units on campus.
Departmental Response
ECC maintains a functional 5-credit course load. It hopes that this workload equalization will be formalized in accordance with the report of the Joint Committee on Teaching Load Distribution.
Dean’s Response
We will consider the Joint Committee on Teaching Load Distribution’s recommendations once they are finalized. This may allow for a more balanced workload.
Recommendation 4
Continue to build experiential learning opportunities (perhaps with library and special collections) and creative writing offerings as resources allow. Consider making creative writing part of the strategic hiring priorities.
Departmental Response
ECC will consider the viability of repurposing ENE4XX – Ex Libris: The Secrets of the Archives to replace ENE4XX - Seminar in Advanced Professional Skills, which has been dormant pending pedagogical review. The department will also consider adding a required programme area in writing to consolidate recently developed courses in the area. This second consideration is less feasible without additional hires, which will contribute additional teaching support through secondary expertise in writing pedagogy.
Dean’s Response:
It is the prerogative of the department to determine the direction of its program of course offerings. That said, I encourage the modernization of the program in the sense mentioned above. As indicated in recommendation 1, the planned new hires will be crucial to enable this modernization.
Recommendation 5
Clarify and expand the opportunities for ECC majors within the CAF in recognition of the many ways a degree from ECC contributes to RMC’s mission to educate ethical leaders.
Departmental Response
ECC recognizes the critical importance of this recommendation and has launched initiatives in accordance with the needs of Public Affairs and Intelligence. Specifically, it has conceived a bilingual communications minor in coordination with the Department of French, Literature, and Culture; secured support for a sponsored Public Affairs PhD; established a multidisciplinary minor in Culture and Diversity, which it intends to develop into a graduate certificate to meet the postgraduate needs of Intelligence officers. More broadly, the department will advocate for more formal and regular dialogue between the CAF branches and RMC programmes. The lack of such dialogue coupled with the leadership turnover within the branches makes it difficult to establish sustained pedagogical and professional strategic planning.
Dean’s Response
My office is prepared to support the initiatives of the ECC Department to promote this discipline and the various programs to which it contributes in order to give it more visibility among the CAF. It is important to promote the contribution that officers who have studied in this field can make to various trades in the profession of arms. RMC will promote the program to the extent possible, noting that RMC has limited agency in determining MOSID requirements in the CAF.
Recommendation 6
Continue to build transparent and consistent practices at both departmental and institutional level around course assignments, service commitments, and course remissions.
Departmental Response
ECC maintains its commitment to transparency and equity in the workplace, and it will continue to advocate processes and resources needed to address inequities, including the teaching workload inequity in SSH in which some disciplines teach a 5-credit course load while others teach a six-credit course load.
Dean’s Response
The Dean’s response is the same as that of the Department.
Recommendation 7
Improve RMC / ECC’s website and internal communication of course offerings and departmental information. This will aid in enrolment and recruitment.
Departmental Response
If ECC receives the resources it needs to reduce its service commitments, such publicity efforts will become more feasible. In the short term, ECC has developed promotional material that can easily be adapted to its online footprint on the college website.
Dean’s Response:
The College encourages the dissemination of information on all available platforms, including on its website, within the framework of the rules of the Canadian federal government. Frequent updates provide quality information and should reflect the dynamism of the ECC department. The planned increase in teaching staff in the near future should make it possible to allocate more resources to meet this objective.
Implementation Plan
| Recommendation | Proposed Follow-up and Resource Implications | Responsibility for Leading Follow-up | Timeline for Addressing Recommendation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Restore faculty strength to level prior to 2018. Develop strategic priorities for hiring that reflect the ECC’s commitment to educating ethical leaders and in relation to urgent new directions in the discipline of English literary studies. | Restore hiring process for two previously approved positions |
Approval: CDA; Commandant; Principal, Vice-Principal, Academic; Vice-Principal, Finance. Execution: Department Head, ECC. |
If approved, complete hiring processes in Fall 2024. Issue Letters of Offer for January 2025 start date. |
| 2. Continue to refine curriculum and program requirements in response to crucial and ongoing disciplinary shifts (BIPOC literature, Indigenous and decolonial studies, gender and sexuality studies) through the hiring priorities that the department has established. | Initiate curriculum review. | Department Head, ECC, in coordination with departmental Curriculum Committee and departmental faculty. This process necessarily includes new positions in World Literatures and Cultures and Indigenous Literatures and Cultures. | Curriculum Committee makes recommendation to ECC end of Fall 2024. Department faculty discuss and finalize Winter 2025. ECC submits Syllabus proposals Fall 2025. |
| 3. Redress workload imbalance between ECC and other units on campus | Approve five credit course load for ECC | Vice-Principal, Academic | Fall/Winter 24/25 |
| 4 Continue to build experiential learning opportunities (perhaps with library and special collections) and creative writing offerings as resources allow. Consider making creative writing part of the strategic hiring priorities | As part of curriculum review in recommendation 2, (a) review ENE4XX and ENE4XX to introduce experiential learning using library archives and (b) review writing courses as programme requirement. | Department Head, ECC, in coordination with departmental Curriculum Committee. | Curriculum Committee makes recommendation to ECC end of Fall 2024. Department faculty discuss and finalize Winter 2025. ECC submits Syllabus proposals Fall 2025. |
| 5. Clarify and expand the opportunities for ECC majors within the CAF in recognition of the many ways a degree from ECC contributes to RMC’s mission to educate ethical leaders |
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| 6. Continue to build transparent and consistent practices at both departmental and institutional level around course assignments, service commitments, and course remissions | Develop departmental course loading criteria, principles, and processes in accordance with the recommendations of the workload committee report. |
Department Head, ECC, in coordination with Dean, SSH, VPA, and Principal. |
Updated during annual monitoring |
| 7. Improve RMC / ECC’s website and internal communication of course offerings and departmental information. This will aid in enrolment and recruitment |
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Conclusion
The ERC Report provided positive feedback on the outcomes of the undergraduate programs in ECC and confirmed that the RMC is delivering good program. However, the ERC did identify areas that had room for improvement, and RMC is, or has already taken, taking steps to address the issues raised. RMC will continue to work toward program enhancement and improve student success in the ECC program.
The Dean of Social Science and Humanities, in consultation with the Head of the English, Culture and Communication department, is responsible for monitoring the Implementation Plan.