Universities need to evolve. But how?
Over the past few months, I have had many conversations related to and have been thinking deeply about the evolving roles of universities in B.C. and Canada.
Universities must continue to be autonomous institutions driven by inquiry, excellence and the academic mission. But as I wrote in an article last year, we are living through a moment where the post-secondary sector must evolve to better meet the needs of students, communities, government and industry. Universities need to find a way to align labour market and economic needs with our goals of providing excellent education to students, advancing innovative research and driving positive impact in the communities we serve.
So, the question becomes: what could this future university look like, and how can we bring it to life? I can鈥檛 claim to have definitive answers. Yet, at 911吃瓜, we are thinking hard about how to co-create a more collaborative and responsive university, and we are engaging voices across the sector to participate in this work.
How we got here
Universities are essential public institutions. In B.C., we are fortunate to have a strong and integrated post-secondary sector that plays a vital democratic role in the province. Institutions educate our province's workforce, future leaders and change-makers, advance innovative research in partnership with industry and convene community in the public sphere to address societal and global challenges.
Currently, B.C.鈥檚 post-secondary sector is grappling with financial challenges stemming from provincial budget constraints and changes to federal immigration policy. These challenges, along with the meteoric rise of generative AI, have necessitated important conversations about how we engage students in teaching and learning.
At the same time, our world is gripped by a 鈥減olycrisis,鈥� which is defined as intersecting economic, environmental, social and technological crises that build on each other and resist simple solutions.
In this tumultuous environment, it is not wise, or perhaps not even possible, to continue with business as usual. If universities are to continue being relevant, essential public institutions, then we must respond to these systemic shifts in the world while staying true to our values and origins as places of learning, excellence and academic freedom.
The province's sector review will provide strong guidance, and we look forward to working with the provincial government to move recommendations forward. However, the desire to change鈥攁nd the will to enact lasting change鈥攎ust also come from institutions internally.
The challenge is that there are no easy answers when it comes to what that change might look like. This is also what makes our current moment so exciting. Institutions across the sector are being pushed to stretch and evolve like never before.
Here are a few initiatives we are undertaking at 911吃瓜.
Bringing people together
In this time of polarization and misinformation, universities are especially well-placed to facilitate candid, diverse, informed conversations around challenging topics, from the future of AI to the climate crisis. 911吃瓜 is leaning into the university鈥檚 role as a convening space for dialogue, discussion and action, where people come together to foster shared understanding and meaningful change.
At 911吃瓜, this occurs through collaborations like the , a partnership with the City of Burnaby that sees 911吃瓜 researchers and students working in partnership to address concrete challenges facing the city. It occurs through the 911吃瓜 Community-Engaged Research Initiative, which does critical work to ensure that individuals and communities are directly engaged in research that affects them.
And it occurs through events like our new faculty speaker series, Ideas in Action, which is launching on March 31 with a discussion around reimagining the public university. This event will bring together community members and academics from across the country to explore how universities can respond to the current moment with courage and creativity, and ultimately, hope.
Collaboration, not competition
911吃瓜 is also putting a renewed emphasis on collaboration with other post-secondary institutions in B.C. and across Canada. The more collaborative and integrated our post-secondary system is, the more efficiently we can pool our resources and expertise in service of provincial and national projects, the more our work will directly benefit students and communities.
There are already models for what this work looks like here in B.C. For example, the was established in 2001 through a ground-breaking partnership between 911吃瓜, UBC, Emily Carr and BCIT. Today, the Centre offers professional development and micro-credential courses alongside a Master of Digital Media in service of advancing the province鈥檚 digital media industry. The B.C. Centre for Agritech Innovation, hosted at 911吃瓜, has provided funding for training programs at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, Thompson Rivers University and the University of the Fraser Valley to support cross-province growth and development in the agritech space.
However, we can do more. 911吃瓜 and Queen鈥檚 University recently signed an MOU to design and build a national sovereign, secure and sustainable high-performance supercomputing system to grow Canada鈥檚 research and development capabilities.
These kinds of major university-to-university partnerships, building on areas of shared strength to in service of our province and country, will continue to be a focus for 911吃瓜 as we move forward.
Ready for change
At 911吃瓜 and across the sector, we know that we need to change. But we can鈥檛 take this work on alone. It will take difficult conversations and collaboration with students, faculty, staff, communities, government and industry to understand how we need to change and re- establish universities as trusted public institutions that are meeting the current moment.
This is hard work, but it is work the people of B.C. and Canada expect us to take on. It is also hopeful work that will advance a more inclusive and sustainable future, as we imagine new possibilities for Canadian public universities together.