Recommendation Report For The University Of Fraser Valley

Introduction

This research report is about recommendations for the improvement of management operations and issues faced by students of the University of Fraser Valley. In this report, we will identify the problems faced by the students of the University of Fraser Valley and provide some alternate improvement options that can help to eradicate these problems.

The University of Fraser Valley is a well-known Canadian public university present in four big cities of British Columbia that offers several bachelor’s and master’s degrees in subjects like fine arts, health sciences, social sciences, agriculture, sciences and technology, business, etc. Apart from the many facilities and services provided by the management of the University of Fraser Valley, it is facing many problems like a low ranking of the University, admission issues, fewer subject options, research and library resources, etc.

Discussion

Problem Identification

By reviewing many students from the University Of Fraser Valley, I was able to identify some major problems faced by the students, which should be eliminated immediately to improve the performance and ranking of the University. These problems include:

• Problems with SUS ( Student Union Society)

Student Union Society is an association of the students of the university that is supposed to work for the betterment and development of students professionally and to promote their concerns, but many students are facing problems because of SUS. Some events were not properly managed or canceled lately (welcome back BBQ event) due to mismanagement of the student union society. They changed bus routes which can be confusing and due to which students are facing problems. The operations and management of SUS can be improved to provide better services to the students.

• Lack of Communication

University officials and management are not interactive, and there is a lack of communication between students and the staff sometimes. The management and staff should remain accessible and in contact with the students to provide information and solve their queries, also they face problems in contacting the teachers. However, according to the reviews of students, they face the problem of having a lack of communication with the management as well as the teachers.

• UFV FB page

In this era, it is very important for institutes like universities to be interactive and accessible for students over social media apps. As social media is becoming a common platform for communication, the university management should work on being interactive with the students over such platforms. Students face many problems on the FB page of the University of Fraser Valley. According to the students, the University page does not respond to their queries made on the official FB page of the university.

• Admission problems

Students face many problems while being admitted to the University of Fraser Valley. The process of admission for people coming from farther areas should be simplified further as they face problems in taking dorms and the complex processes. Another problem with the admission department is that they would not allow admitting transgenders in any course offered by the university.

• Fewer subject options

Many subjects are offered to a bachelor’s student, but there are a lot fewer subject options for master’s students and Ph.D. students. The courses that are offered for bachelor students should also be offered to the master’s and Ph.D. students to increase their options.

• Issues faced by disabled students and parents

Disabled students and their parents face problems with parking, and they have a hard time picking up their children from the university. The staff to manage the pickup parking behave rudely with the parents if they take a little more time to pick up their children from the university.

• Ranking problem

The university is facing a problem of low ranking. In 2018, the University of Fraser Valley was ranked 53rd among the top Canadian Universities and 4000+ worldwide ranking. The rate of research conducted at the University of Fraser Valley is low, that’s why its worldwide ranking is low.

• Library resources

According to the ranking of the University of Fraser Valley, the library resources of the university are of less amount than the other top-ranked universities. There digital library and library resources are not sufficient for the research students of the University.

• Placement Facilities

The students of the university, as well as the alumni, are facing problems in getting jobs in some good organizations. The university provides placement services for the students, but these efforts are not enough. Many alumni are jobless and face problems in getting good jobs.

• Harassment problems

Some of the students have reported getting harassed in the university by their teachers and fellow students. The administration and management do not take proper notice of such incidents as per the students.

Purpose Of The Research Report

The purpose of this research report is to identify the problems being faced by the students of The University of Fraser Valley and the University itself. These problems and the suggested alternate solutions may help the management to take corrective actions and make policies by results analysis of this study. I will provide recommendations based on this study for the management of the university to eliminate these problems and improve the standard of services of the university.

Methodology

This research is conducted as primary research, and a qualitative method was applied. The population of this study was students of the University of Fraser Valley. A convenient sampling technique was used to create the sample for the research. The sample size of this study was 50 students, for this research primary data has been collected by the face to face surveys. The response rate of the study was 70%. The following graph shows facts and figures of data collected on the basis of some closed-ended questions by the students:

Results And Analysis

The results of this research showed that the major problem faced by the students is due to the students union society. 85% of the students have faced problems with the management and services of SUS. 82% of students believe that there should be more facilities for disabled students and their parents, according to 77% of students, there should be more subjects offered to masters and P.hD students. 71% of students have a problem with the accessibility and communication with teachers and the staff, and they believe that the FB page of the university is not as interactive and responsive as it should be. 57% of students believe that there are fewer placement facilities for them and the unemployed alumni. 62 % of students have shown concern about the improvement of strategies related to harassment issues. Similarly, 54% of students think that the university ranking is low and can be improved. 62 % of students want the admission criteria, and the process should be changed and simplified. 71% of students suggest that library sources should be increased and further improved by digitalizing it.

Recommendations

According to the research, the major problem faced by the students is because of the Students Union Society. I recommend that the university take steps to improve and facilitate the student union by providing funds and directions for the management of events properly and keeping control over the actions of SUS to avoid any mismanagement. University management should not allow them to make any mess with the university operations and processes, e.g., changing the route for their promotion, which makes students confused about the routes.

University management should provide more facilities to disabled students and their parents, like providing a separate parking lot so that parents can easily pick up their children from the campuses after class without any hassle or any rude words from the staff and other people in the line. The university should offer more subjects for the masters and P.hD students like its offering to the bachelor’s students.

I recommend the management to make the communication strong between the management and students. The management should increase its responsiveness to solve students’ problems and make themselves accessible to the students easily. They should work on their FB page and make it more interactive by replying to their queries on time. The social media platform has a significant place in communication; university management should make communication strong by giving frequent and timely responses over FB pages. Management should further provide and enhance its services of placement office, and provide information about the better job opportunities to the students as well as the alumni who cannot get jobs, to develop a better future for them seminars and job fairs can be conducted for them. Management should work on its admission processes and simplify them so that students coming from farther areas may not have any problems getting admission to the university. Another recommendation for the university is that they should provide admission to the transgenders as well. They should provide equal rights to the transgenders as highlighted by the students, the university can make a difference in the society and can create a positive brand name through this strategy. For the problem of the rising ranking of the university, I recommend that the university management should provide better research options to the students and increase the number of researchers. In this way, the research work can be increased, and publishing more papers from the students of the university can help boost the worldwide ranking of UFV as well as ranking among the top universities in Canada. Library sources should also be managed properly and enhance its services by providing more access to digital libraries and services.

Conclusion

The University of Fraser Valley is a well-known university for its educational services, but there are some issues faced by the students for which research has been conducted. According to the research data, the university can improve some of its facilities and processes to facilitate the students in a better way. If the university wants to compete with other universities, it should increase its ranking. Recommendations have been discussed in the research report to eliminate the problems the university and its students are facing. The university can get a good brand name and positive positioning if the management takes these steps and provides increased value to the students by eradicating the problems identified in this report.

References

Valley, U. (2018). University of the Fraser Valley (UFV.ca). The University of the Fraser Valley. Retrieved 3 April 2018, from https://www.ufv.ca/