Strategic Mandate Agreement 3
The Ontario government announced that the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) will be negotiating Strategic Mandate Agreement 3 (SMA3, from 2020-25) with all Ontario universities.
The Strategic Mandate Agreement (SMA) is a bilateral agreement between the ministry and the university, which the ministry considers to be a key feature of the accountability framework for postsecondary education in Ontario. SMA3 bilateral discussions will focus on a new “performance/outcomes-based funding mechanism” announced in the Ontario 2019 budget. As part of SMA3, the ministry will confirm our performance-based funding and our core enrolment funding based on corridor midpoints.
The SMA agreement must demonstrate how Laurentian’s mission supports the priority areas of the Ontario government and how our plans and strategies will support improved performance in the key areas of:
(i) addressing the evolving needs of the labour market,
(ii) enhancing the skills and competencies of our students, and
(iii) supporting a postsecondary education system that strengthens Ontario’s economic competitiveness.
The government has grouped the 10 performance metrics within two main categories:
Skills & Job Outcomes
Community & Economic Impact
In addition, a third category has been created called “Productivity, Accountability & Transparency”, and institutions will be responsible for reporting data regarding Faculty Workload and Faculty Compensation.
Strategic Alignment
Laurentian University is undertaking broad consultation to share information about the SMA3 process and to ensure that decisions related to this agreement reflect and advance the Laurentian University’s purpose, strengths, values, and strategic plan outcomes.
It is important that our SMA3 agreement is aligned with the Strategic Plan, Academic Plan, Research Plan and Budget and Multi-Year Plan.