At Trent University earlier today, Minister of Rural Affairs and Trent alumnus Jeff Leal announced the University would receive $983,600 in provincial funding through the Productivity and Innovation Fund under the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities to support innovative partnerships and course development.

“The Provincial Government is committed to working with Ontario’s postsecondary facilities to ensure every student has the best learning outcomes possible. This funding will promote and develop collaborations between our universities and colleges, improve the student’s quality of learning and affordability,” said The Hon. Jeff Leal.

Trent’s successful applications have secured funding to allow the University to innovate and introduce tools that further support student success. In-line with government priorities, Trent’s successful proposal emphasizes innovative approaches to partnerships with other institutions.

“I’m pleased that Trent was granted this funding and am very grateful to the ongoing support of the provincial government in ensuring the best possible education for Trent University students,” said Dr. Steven E. Franklin, president and vice-chancellor of Trent University. “Trent is a leader in developing synergies with our partner institutions to effectively and efficiently offer pathways between institutions and manage operations. This support will allow us to explore additional innovation to enhance the student educational experience.”

The total funding awarded to Trent University will be broken down into four areas. Trent has been provided $200,000 to investigate streamlining the curriculum by standardizing the degree structure and identifying unnecessary duplication. These activities will allow for increased efficiency in degree delivery.

The University has also been awarded $250,000 to redesign a number of current courses to facilitate online delivery. In addition, the funding will be used for new investments in technology infrastructure designed to outfit classrooms for online learning.

An additional $483,600 has been granted in partnership with Fleming College to provide each institution with readily available back-up access to critical online data by enhancing the existing fiber link between Trent and Fleming, supporting the back-up and replication of institutional data, and making available key business critical system services in the event of a partial or complete data centre disaster.

Finally, Trent’s historic partnership with UOIT in Oshawa will also be enhanced through a $50,000 grant to support a review of university business operations and academic programming to create a model and/or roadmap for developing deeper relationships throughout the academy.

The Productivity and Innovation Fund focuses on three priorities: program prioritization, course redesign, and administrative and service delivery transformation. The Fund was created in support of the transformation of the postsecondary education sector in Ontario.