KPU senate submits first master’s degree proposal to board of governors
The senate accepted revisions to the double arts minor, as well as approved two new courses and discontinued three others
The next KPU senate meeting will take place on March 3 at 4:00 pm. (File photo)
Kwantlen Polytechnic University’s senate approved a motion to recommend the school’s first master’s degree program proposal to the board of governors during a meeting on Jan. 27.
The proposed program is a master of operations and supply chain management degree, which falls under the Melville School of Business.
“This is a big decision for our first master’s program, because after this, it sails onto uncharted territories, where it will be scrutinized every which way by other people,” KPU President Alan Davis said. “It’s quite a big step for KPU — historic, I would say.”
If approved by the board of governors on March 26, the degree proposal will then be submitted to the province’s Degree Quality Assurance Board (DQAB) for a stage-one review. If the review gains support from Anne Kang, minister of post-secondary education and future skills, the DQAB will begin its stage-two review by late spring, according to the meeting’s agenda.
The anticipated implementation date for the master’s degree is Sept. 1, 2026.
Business instructors Mike Ford and Darren Anderson developed the proposed 36-credit master’s degree, which aims to target mid-career professionals, prepare students for roles such as operations manager and chief operating officer, and accommodate full-time working students in a blended, hybrid format.
“We originally consulted an Indigenous supply chain management expert and a curriculum expert,” Ford said. “We really wanted to develop this program to the primary lens of reciprocity by prioritizing Indigenous values and traditions in the learning outcomes and curriculum.”
The senate also approved revisions to the double minor in the bachelor of arts program, which goes into effect on Sept. 1, to allow students to graduate with a minor from the Faculty of Science in addition to their arts minor.
“This was a request by the Science Faculty Council, and they wanted this,” Senate Vice-Chair Catherine Schwichtenberg said. “This really speaks to people who would like to teach [kindergarten to Grade 12] so that they can have a minor in both faculties.”
The change will also help bring arts students into science minors, to help “fill seats and increase enrolment in KPU’s existing upper-level Science courses that are currently under capacity,” according to the meeting’s agenda.
The senate approved a list of new, revised, and discontinued courses, which will all come into effect on Sept. 1. The new courses are within the departments of arts and history — ARTS 2100 Minds and Machines: Navigating Ethics, Applications and Impacts of Generative AI as well as HIST 4421 European Witchcraft Before 1800.
Members of the senate discontinued three upper-level political science courses — POLI 3122 Introduction to Canadian Foreign Policy, POLI 3150 American Foreign Policy, and POLI 4145 Cross-Border Politics.
One biology course, BIOL 4245 Developmental Biology, and 11 political science courses were revised.
Secretary of Senate Nadia Henwood provided notice of the spring election for senate and board of governors representatives. Within the senate, there are nine vacancies — four student, four faculty, and one staff. For the board of governors, there are two student seat vacancies.
The nomination period for the spring election is Feb. 10 to 28. This will be followed by a four-week campaigning period, with an online election taking place from April 1 to 4. The results will be posted on April 9.
The senate also voted to remove Policy AR18 Final Examinations and Overloads.
Aimee Begalka, chair of the senate standing committee on policy, wrote in her report that the policy was brought forward for elimination “because its provisions have been subsumed under Procedure AR17 Academic Schedule and Course Timetables.”
The senate appointed KPU Curricular Support Manager Meredith Laird to the senate standing committee on program review. A list of graduates who applied for February convocation were also approved.
In his report to the senate, President Alan Davis wrote that he joined KPU International and others on Jan. 7 in meeting with representatives from Al Baha University, who were visiting from Saudi Arabia.
“[They’re] quite lovely people, and we’ve signed an MOU (memorandum of understanding) with them to do some work, particularly with respect to exchanges and building pathways for students to KPU,” he said.
Davis also virtually met with Gervan Fearon, president of George Brown College in Toronto, on Jan. 10 about hosting a dialogue both here and in Toronto about the issues higher education faces.
He and other KPU colleagues also attended a reception for the B.C. Cabinet and First Nations Leaders’ Gathering on Jan. 20.
The next KPU senate meeting is scheduled for March 3 at 4:00 pm via Microsoft Teams. For more information, visit www.kpu.ca/senate.
