College Planning

Cañada College's Planning and Budgeting Council (PBC) oversees the institution's planning and implementation processes. For the college's overarching strategic plans, such as the Educational Master Plan and the Strategic Enrollment Management Plan, PBC appoints a special task force to lead the planning process with support from the Office of Planning, Research, and Institutional Effectiveness (PRIE). Each task force develops the plan and engages all campus constituencies for review and discussion. PBC approves and monitors the implementation of all college plans.

Other college plans are in the purview of the relevant committee (e.g., Distance Education Advisory Committee leads the development of the Distance Education Plan). As of 2020, PBC established the following bylaw template and college plan template for all college-wide committees to implement no later than the start of their new planning cycle. As of 2023, the college's Student Equity and Achievement Plan has been in the purview of the Equity and Antiracism Planning Council.

To prioritize strategic initiatives on which to focus in a given year, the college's integrated planning and budgeting cycle begins each year with a summer Leadership Retreat, at which an "annual plan" is developed and recommended to the college by the president on opening day. The relationship between the EMP, Strategic Enrollment Management Plan, Committee Plans and Annual Plan is depicted in the college's planning calendar below:

Integrated Planning and Budgeting

To measure progress towards achieving its goals, the College considers its progress in the implementation of each of the strategic initiatives that support each goal. We do this twice per year. In August, the college hosts an annual summer Leadership Retreat which is open to all and at which participants are asked to review the overall, year-over-year progress in EMP implementation by considering the EMP baseline metrics and comparing them to the current metrics for each strategic initiative. Retreat participants utilize this comparison, as well as qualitative information presented by those helping to implement each initiative, to help inform the selection of which strategic initiatives to focus on during the coming academic year. These priorities are then conveyed to the entire college on opening day by the College President and, subsequently, to the Planning and Budgeting Council which adopts the year’s priorities as part of an “annual plan” for EMP implementation.

In May of each year, an annual plan progress report is prepared and presented to the Planning & Budgeting Council and to the campus community on flex day in April, describing the progress made on each of the strategic initiatives that year. Links to prior year Annual Plans and Annual Plan Progress Reports can be found below.

Program planning is part of the College's annual Comprehensive Program Review process.

To effectively integrate its planning, budgeting, and evaluation cycle each year, the College follows this Integrated Planning and Budgeting Calendar. The college's personnel and non-personnel resource request process is integrated into its program review cycle each year with the culmination in May when the Vice President of Administrative Services reports the results to PBC.