June was a busy month at SLC as we celebrated our graduates through convocation ceremonies on each campus. There were several small adjustments to convocation ceremonies this year that are a result of SLC’s ongoing Strategic Enrolment Management (SEM) work. SEM ensures that all aspects and areas of the College are integrated and aligned to support current and future students, and a SEM Enrolment Planning Subcommittee focuses on enrolment and integrated program planning, ensuring processes and services are student-focused, effective, and responsive.
Whether you participated as an ambassador at a ceremony, or attended because you were celebrating a graduate, you may have noticed that for the first time, SLC employees celebrating the graduation of family or friends were offered reserved seating, and SLC’s Honorable Diploma recipients were seated on stage for the duration of the ceremonies. Additionally, President’s List and Valedictorians again received specialty sashes, helping highlight their accomplishments at an exclusive pre-ceremony celebration. These small adjustments are additional ways convocation is made memorable for our students, graduates, and community.
Also, the Registrar’s Office has adopted a new method of processing eligible graduates, regardless of whether they have applied to graduate. This ensures that all students eligible to graduate can receive their credentials in a timely fashion and it improves data reporting on our graduation rate. This was piloted last year and implemented this year as it has been successful and will now be an ongoing process.
The Registrar’s Office also ran a new pilot program where graduates in Brockville received a folder with a detailed note when they crossed the stage. Previously graduates did not receive anything when they crossed the stage, and credential distribution was rushed afterwards. Not only did providing this note mean graduates received a folder on stage, but the folder also became a prop for their photos and included clear direction for required next steps like returning robes and hoods and picking-up credentials. It helped mitigate loss of convocation wear and ensured a consistent experience for all graduates.
The pilot represented a streamlined process, encouraging increased student engagement with SLC social media and offering efficient direction to support students and staff in the post-convocation process. Overall, a minor change but a big service improvement and initial feedback was very positive.
A final very exciting win the Registrar’s Office would like to share is that this year, with extensive logistical support and knowledge from the RO team and Convocation Manager, Ashley Stebbins, SLC’s partner in Toronto, Alpha College, successfully completed their first convocation ceremony for nearly 2,000 students in late June!
The Registrar’s Office would like to recognize the SLC teams and ambassadors who supported convocation ceremonies this year, including those at our partners in Toronto and Vancouver. With ongoing attention to little details, and continued commitment to finding ways to improve our student and graduates’ experiences, SEM, its subcommittees, and the teams working to implement improvements are proudly putting students first as they innovate.
This initiative is part of ongoing work being guided by SLC’s Strategic Enrolment Management Process. Strategic Enrolment Management (SEM) ensures that all aspects and areas of the College are integrated and aligned to support current and future students. All SLC employees play a role in supporting this long-term, data-driven process. SEM is not just about recruiting new students; it ensures that current students are successful, and our programs meet industry and employer needs. 