U of T Mississauga developing new housing master plan
A new 10-year plan is in the works for UTM Student Housing & Residence Life, intended to improve the student experience and to ensure that future housing offerings will meet the market demand.
“It’s the end of one chapter and the beginning of another,” said Chad Nuttall, director of Student Housing & Residence Life. “The vision will reflect the collective input from many stakeholders; such as Office of the Registrar and Facilities Management & Planning, contributing to the overall U of T Mississauga Campus Master Plan”.
“UTM has expanded to 14,000 undergraduate students, but that growth will slow down. We need to gather the evidence to make decisions about our future,” said Nuttall. The plan will consider where students live and how housing will impact their experience, whether it’s on or off-campus.
“The research is overwhelmingly clear, student residences have positive and statistically significant effect on student grades, persistence and likelihood of degree completion, along with a number of other equally important personal growth and development factors for students. The UTM Housing Master Plan is a critical tool to develop upon and enhance the student experience here at UTM”, said Dale Mullings, Assistant Dean of Student & International Initiatives, has also studied the importance of residence and the role it plays within an academic community.
As a component to the master plan, data collection is currently occurring in three core areas: market demand analysis, facility assessment audit and UTM student demographic information. Over the next few weeks, information and feedback will be solicited through: a current student survey, stakeholder interviews, focus groups and a visioning session with campus partners. The final document from Scion will be released in summer 2016.
Participation from all levels of the UTM community is critical to the success of this process. If you would like to add information to the Housing Master Plan, please contact Chad Nuttall.