2017
Department of Advanced Education and Skills and Labour

As the Director of Student Financial Services with the Department of Advanced Education, Skills and Labour, Robert Feaver developed and promoted a 'student-first' approach to help post-secondary students access funding within policy guidelines. To accomplish this he recognized the need to motivate and empower staff through boosting morale and providing them with the freedom to express and explore ideas.

His efforts have paid off and have been instrumental in advancing and streamlining services for students through development and introduction of electronic forms, acceptance of e-signature, and allowing staff communications to students through email rather than traditional mail; thus significantly expediting the student aid application process and resulting in budgetary savings.

Changes in how the Student Financial Services division operates have also resulted in a significant decrease in the number of student appeals from 1,103 in 2012-13 to 609 in 2016-17 (a reduction of 40 per cent). There have been no appeals to the external appeals board in four years.

He extends his expertise nationally through his work as co-chair of the Intergovernmental Consultative Committee on Student Financial Assistance where he has a leading role in working with representatives from other jurisdictions across the country to develop and implement policy and program elements.

Robert developed and implemented the Federal First Model, maximizing Federal Government resources that resulted in a reduction in the province's operating costs an innovative change that saves millions of dollars annually. Robert's transformational leadership style has been successful in implementing fundamental changes to program administration in Student Financial Services.