Summary
Objective and Scope
We audited three non-academic collaborative initiatives to assess if the institutions had well-designed systems to plan, govern, implement and sustain the initiatives:
- Apply Alberta—an online system that allows undergraduate students to apply to any institution and to request and transfer transcripts
- Lois Hole Campus Alberta Digital Library—an online repository of commercially licensed electronic learning resources that gives students at participating institutions access to the same resources
- IT management (ITM) control framework—a set of IT policies, procedures and templates to help institutions implement effective controls over their information technology systems
We assessed how the three initiatives fit into the minister’s plans for institutions to work together to provide learning opportunities for Albertans in a cost-effective and sustainable way. Campus Alberta is a coordinated and integrated system approach wherein institutions collaborate to develop and deliver high quality learning opportunities. We identified lessons and critical success factors to improve future Campus Alberta initiatives.
Conclusion
The department and institutions implemented all three initiatives several years ago, with significant effort from staff at the institutions. However, we concluded that the department and institutions do not have well-designed systems to plan, govern, implement and sustain collaborative initiatives. With better systems and processes for collaboration, service to students will improve and make the advanced education system more efficient, effective and sustainable.
We have findings at two levels:
- collaboration generally
- specific collaborative initiatives