As we approach the end of our fourth quarter and the end of the year, we have a great deal to reflect upon.
2020 has been a year of considerable challenges for us all as we have confronted the COVID-19 pandemic. I want to thank you all for your effort, patience, understanding and resilience as together we rose to the occasion and adapted to an online learning environment. This has required a great deal of flexibility on your part as we have navigated through the many changes and adjustments that we have had to make. This transition came as a result of a lot of hard work and effort of many people. Please join me in acknowledging the incredible work of the Acsenda faculty and staff for the work and effort that they have put in to making this a very successful transition and for all of the support that they have provide to support our students throughout the year.
Although this has been a challenging year, we have a great deal to be thankful for. In addition to the successful adaptation to online learning, we have maintained strong enrolments and our enrolment levels will likely be slightly above our highest enrolment ever. We continue to see diversification of out student population. Our retention rates have been very strong, and other indicators of academic success have also been very good. Attendance remains consistently well above 90%, and our academic success rate and performance have been at some of the highest levels we have seen. We have designed an incredible Masters degree program which will be submitted to the DQAB later this month for review. Our students and graduates continue be incredible ambassadors for our institution. Our BHM students presented an academic paper at a conference this year. Recently, we received very positive feedback about a group of our students who assisted the ASQ (American Standards for Quality) organization in their virtual conference, garnering wonderful comments about their capabilities. Our students showed their commitment to helping our environment through their participation in the Great Canadian Shoreline Cleanup. We had a great range of online activities, guest speakers and events which kept people connected and supporting each other. This is all a reflection of our emphasis on international thinking and individual focus that each and everyone of us provides and how it makes a difference to others and our communities.
There are so many more moments that I would like to share and there are so many small things that each and everyone of us does that may not be noticed but collectively make a difference to our institution. This is what makes us such a great place to learn.
As 2021 approaches, we have a great deal to look forward to in the new year. With vaccines on the horizon, we will be able to see this pandemic come to an end and we can once again return to being together again.
I wanted to extend the very best for the holiday season and a Happy New Year.
Keep safe and take care,
President Neil Mort
