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 with 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 which offers several bachelors and master’s degrees in subjects like fine arts, health sciences, social sciences, agriculture, sciences and technology, and business, etc. Apart from many facilities and services provided by the management of the University of Fraser Valley, it is facing many problems like a low ranking of University, admission issues, fewer subject options, research and library resources, etc.
Discussion
Problem Identification
By reviews of 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:
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Problems with SUS ( Student Union Society)
Student union society is an association of the students of the university which 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. Like some events were not properly managed or cancelled lately (welcome back BBQ event) due to mismanagement of 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.
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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. But according to the reviews of students, they face the problem of having lack of communication with the management as well as the teachers.
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UFV FB page
In this era, it is very important for the institutes like universities to be interactive and accessible for the 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 platform. Students face many problems on FB page of the University of Fraser Valley. According to the students, University page does not respond to their queries made on the official FB page of the university.
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Admission problems
Students face many problems while taking admission in 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 to get the complex processes. Another problem with admission department is that they would not allow admitting transgenders in any course offered by the university.
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Fewer subject options
Many subjects are offered to a bachelors student, but there are a lot less subject options for masters students and Ph.D. students. The courses that are offered for bachelors students should also be offered to the masters and Ph.D. students to increase their options.
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Issues faced by disabled students and parents
Disabled students and their parents face problems in 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 their children from the university.
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Ranking problem
University is facing a problem of low ranking. In 2018, University of Fraser Valley is ranked 53rd among the top Canadian Universities and 4000+ worldwide ranking. The rate of research conducted in the University of Fraser Valley is low that’s why its worldwide ranking is low.
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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.
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Placement Facilities
The students of the university, as well as the alumni, are facing problems in getting jobs in some good organizations. University provides placement services for the students, but these efforts are not enough. Many alumni are jobless, and face problem in getting good jobs.
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Harassment problems
Some of the students have reported getting harassed in the university by the 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 university to eliminate these problems and improve the standard of services of the university.
Methodology
This research is conducted as primary research, and qualitative method was applied. The population of this study was students of the University of Fraser Valley. 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 is showing facts and figures of data collected on the basis of some closed-ended questions by the students like:
| Questions Asked | Responded Yes Responded No
(No. of students) (No. of students) |
| Did you ever face a problem with SUS? | 30 5 |
| Do you think there is lack of communication? | 20 15 |
| Is UFV FB page interactive? | 10 25 |
| Is there a room for improvement in criteria and process for taking admission? | 22 13 |
| Do you think subjects options are less for masters and P.hD? | 27 8 |
| Do you think disabled students face problems? | 29 6 |
| Do you think university ranking is not up to the mark? | 19 16 |
| Do you think library sources are enough? | 10 25 |
| Are the placement facilities provided by university enough? | 15 20 |
| Do you think the university can take more effective steps to control harassment? | 22 13 |
Results and Analysis
The results of this research showed that 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% students believe that there should be more facilities for the disabled students and their parents, according to 77% students there should be more subjects offered to the masters and P.hD students. 71% students have a problem with the accessibility and communication with teachers and the staff, and they believe that FB page of the university is not interactive and responsive as it should be. 57% students believe that there are fewer placement facilities for them and the unemployed alumni. 62 % students have shown concern about the improvement of strategies related harassment issues. Similarly, 54% students think that university ranking is low and it can be improved. 62 % students want that the admission criteria and the process should be changed and simplified. 71% 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 Students Union Society. I recommend that the university should take steps to improve and facilitate the student union by providing funds and directions for the management of events properly and keep 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 process, e.g., changing of the route for their promotion which make students confused about the routes.
University management should provide more facilities to the disabled students and their parents like providing a separate parking lot so that parents can easily pick their children from the campuses after class without any hassle or any rude words of the staff and other people in the line. 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. Social media platform has a significant place in communication; university management should make the communication strong by giving frequent and timely response over FB page. 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 it so the students coming from farther areas may not get any problem in taking admission in 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 rising ranking of the university, I recommend that the university management should provide better research options to the students and increase the researchers. In this way, the research work can be increased, and by publishing more papers of the student of the university, that can help boost the worldwide ranking of UFV as well as ranking in the top universities of 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 the ranking. Recommendations have been discussed in the research report to eliminate the problems the university and its students are facing. University can get a good brand name and positive positioning if the management takes these steps and provide 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/
