Canadian First Year Experience & Mission Statement
The Network serves Canadian education professionals by supporting and advancing efforts to improve student learning and transition into and throughout postsecondary education. We provide opportunities for the exchange of national and international scholarly and practical information, as well as discussion of trends and issues within a Canadian context through facilitating, and networking. The network will be facilitating professional development, exchange of information, the development of resources, and the implementation of student success strategies.
Core Commitments
Student Transitions: We focus on student transitions in the first year and throughout postsecondary education, including transfer experience, degree completion, and new graduate student experiences, as critical junctures in student education and development. We strive to set a Canadian standard of excellence for supporting student transitions and facilitating educational success for our diverse student populations.
Connection Between Research and Practice: We believe that good postsecondary educational practices must rely upon a foundation of high-quality research. Conversely, good research draws from and informs practices in our field. As such, the work of the Canadian Network advances and supports both scholarly practice and applied research.
Inclusion: We strive to create a supportive and professional environment where a diversity of viewpoints are recognized and considered in the ongoing dialogue on student transitions. One of the greatest strengths of the first-year experience and student transition movement is its ability to cut across traditional boundaries in higher education and involve professionals from multiple sectors of education, institutional roles, and disciplinary perspectives as well as from a variety of personal backgrounds, institutional environments, and educational experiences.
Collaboration: Partnership and collaboration draw from the interdisciplinary nature of higher education, communicate an ongoing commitment to inclusion, and, ultimately, enhance the success of our efforts to support student transitions. The Canadian Network promotes effective collaboration and aims to create intentional and integrative connections between colleagues, units, organizations, systems, educational sectors, regions, and countries in support of student transition and success. This collaborative approach includes working with the global international first-year experience and student transition movement in order to broaden our understanding of international transitions.
Lifelong Learning: We believe that all educators continue to be lifelong learners. The Canadian Network supports a climate of intellectual curiosity and seeks to provide future services as well as the tools and media to pursue professional development, as well as to support an ongoing process of inquiry, exploration, and discovery.
Networking: The Network is also committed to collecting Canadian and international resources via online sources such as a dedicated website, social media, and listserve. Canadian first year experience best practices will also be shared through professional development events on the Canadian first-year experience and student transition.
Canadian Information Sharing: The Network intends to collect information in order to build a clearinghouse that represents Canadian-wide work supporting students in transition. We believe that having this information accessible will facilitate connections and collaborations between Canadian professionals.