Seneca: 50 Years of Success, Growth and Transformation

2017-18 marked an important milestone for Seneca as we celebrated our 50th year. Along with this momentous anniversary came various developments, opportunities and challenges for which we rose to the occasion.

Seneca introduced the 2017-2022 Strategic Plan that renewed our high-level direction and set long-term goals to bring our vision to life. Recognizing the importance of our foundational work of providing a great teaching and learning experience rooted in an advanced applied, broad-based education, the plan highlights the need for Seneca to continue to evolve in exciting ways to serve new markets, a changing world of work and an expanding definition of student.

With preparations nearing completion for the openings of Magna Hall at King Campus and the Centre for Innovation, Technology and Entrepreneurship (CITE) at Newnham Campus, we announced Seneca2020 – the largest series of program and department moves in our history.

In recognition of the 50th anniversary of Ontario’s college system, Seneca received $4.6M from the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) in support of our legacy projects. With this funding, Seneca is revitalizing the School of Aviation’s fleet of aircraft, building a new Indigenous student space for First Peoples@Seneca, creating a broadcast centre for our journalism students and expanding our student tablet and laptop loaning program.

Following the introduction of our 2017-2020 Strategic Mandate Agreement with MTCU, Seneca successfully responded to a proposal to fund the innovative hub-and-spoke student mobility model with other Ontario colleges. This funding will support Seneca’s three-year project to develop joint credentials and student supports.

With the passing of the Fair Workplaces, Better Jobs Act (Bill 148), Seneca identified additional operating costs and developed a mitigation strategy, presenting projections for both to government.

The province-wide academic strike lasted five weeks in the fall. Seneca dedicated resources across the institution to mitigate the impact of the strike, including providing support for our students, and developing strike contingency and academic completion plans for when classes resumed. We were pleased that 57.6 per cent of the students who withdrew from their program because of the strike re-enrolled in a Seneca program.