Occasional updates, comments, and reflections from President Feridun Hamdullahpur
The past year has been framed around one thing: the COVID-19 pandemic. It has shaped and reshaped virtually everything we’ve done as a society, and rightly so. This disruption was certainly felt at the recent World Economic Forum (WEF).
Dear University of Waterloo Community,
Many of us have watched the news over the past week of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the rise in protests across the world. I know some in our University community may have participated in protests to stand in solidarity against racism, violence and oppression.
I stand with you. I stand with your frustration. I stand with your anger. I stand with your sadness. And, I stand with your call for action.
Canada is a diverse country, but still racism, oppression and intolerance happen here, too often.
There are few experiences as exciting as watching a pitch competition at the University of Waterloo. The student-entrepreneurs are full of passion, focus and expertise that they are utilizing to create truly unique and groundbreaking ventures. It is quite inspiring, but it’s only the tip of the entrepreneurial iceberg at Waterloo.
The ventures that have come out of the hard work of thousands of Waterloo students and graduates continue to disrupt industries and make significant contributions to our local, regional and national economies. In the third and final part of my Economic Impact Series, I am going to explore the wide-ranging and ongoing contributions of Waterloo’s entrepreneurship programs and talented entrepreneurs.
When I am connecting with government officials, post-secondary administrators and industry leaders from around the world, I am most often asked about Waterloo’s co-op program.
I get questions about its benefits to the students, to the learning process, to business, to research, to the University and about how it impacts society. With more than 60 years of experience with co-operative education, it’s clear to me that our co-op does all of these.
Co-op is in our DNA. It has been part of our institution from its very founding and after six decades of evolution it is delivering for our students, our employer partners and for Canada.
To be relevant and truly distinctive, universities around the world must have a unique role to play in society. We need to educate and train generations of talented citizens with a renewed purpose as we wrap it together with a dedication to enabling curiosity-driven discoveries from our exceptional researchers and faculty members. That’s why universities are vital to the economic health of nations.
That is exactly what we have been doing right here at the University of Waterloo from day one.
I had the honour of once again joining more than 3,000 business and government officials at the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland this past week. With it came Insights and observations on the state of the world economically, socially and politically; and connections with other universities, research institutions and industry partners.
Though I could write an entire book about the activities and discussions at the WEF, I wanted to take the opportunity to share some of my thoughts on my recent time in Davos and the future state of post-secondary education, Canada and the University of Waterloo.
Today, like so many other universities across Canada, we mourn. We mourn the loss of safety. We mourn the loss of bright futures. We mourn the loss of 14 young women. Today we stand with l'École Polytechnique de Montréal and all those who identify as women who are impacted by gender-based violence.
Canada has a problem.
We play an outsized role in the world as drivers of artificial intelligence knowledge and advancement, but we aren’t seeing it pay off on the global stage–not in the headlines, and not yet in the marketplace. Even as Canada cements its role as the big thinkers behind one of the world’s most dynamic and disruptive technologies, companies are having a difficult time capitalizing on that advantage.
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