The UFV community conversation gains steam

A thoughtexchange graph depicting the interactions between participants and thoughts so far.

Approaching the end of its first week with 12 days to go, the UFV community conversation on values and mission is picking up steam. As of Thursday, Nov. 1, 203 people had visited the thoughtexchange on values and mission. 81 people shared 271 thoughts and 5015 ratings were handed out.

Students win week one

Students (44%) and staff (26%) have been the most enthusiastic participants, so far, followed by faculty members (15%), alumni (7%), community members (2%) and others (6%).

Mission critical

When asked about our current mission and values, participants are saying that values and mission should be more concise, that they should better align with our vision, and that the transformative nature of UFV for students should be emphasized.

Participants have put forward 46 suggestions for a new mission statement. “Changing lives, building community” is in first place with an average rating of 3.7 by 32 participants, followed by “Create the best learning environment focused on future opportunities for all students” (3.6 average rating by 5 participants), and “Innovative learning opportunities to prepare students for a successful future” (3.6 average rating by 5 participants).

Theme theory

Some definite themes are emerging. As a core value, meaningful student/faculty interaction — the kind made possible by small class sizes — is important to a majority of participants.

Other values rated highly include critical thinking, freedom of speech, UFV’s role in the Fraser Valley, inclusion, and diversity.

The “best” debate

Although vision isn’t on our radar until January, we may be seeing a preview of participants’ opinions on the current vision’s goal to provide the best undergraduate education in Canada — most saying this should be re-examined, but others expressing the opinion that this is a worthy goal.

As of November 1, the top-ranked thoughts for each question, based on the number of people who rated the thoughts, were:

Q1: What do you think are UFV’s most important values (our core beliefs)?

Q1: What do you think are UFV’s most important values (our core beliefs)?

Q3: How would you describe UFV’s mission (our core purpose) in fewer than 10 words?

There are 12 days left to participate in the community conversation on values and mission in thoughtexchange. Go to https://my.thoughtexchange.com/#118172403 to contribute your own ideas, rate other ideas and explore the themes that are emerging from participants.