To boost Canada's potential, make university boundaries more porous

This op-ed was published by The Record on October 19, 2016. Read it on The Record's Website. 

Picture of UWaterloo sign

By: Patrick Deane, Meric Gertler, Feridun Hamdullahpur 

While most of us have been engrossed in the normal pursuits of a Canadian summer, the federal government has been busy convening three conversations that hold critical importance for Canada's economic future. As these conversations proceed, universities like ours have an opportunity to enhance our impact by rethinking how we might work more closely with our partners in the region around us.

The first conversation involves a series of roundtables designed to help shape a new innovation agenda for the country. The second focuses on a comprehensive review of how the federal government supports fundamental science. And the third seeks to define a new economic growth strategy for Canada.

These three conversations are closely connected. Innovation is the wellspring of economic growth, particularly for high-wage countries such as ours. And the foundation for innovation is the production of new knowledge, as well as the talent that can apply that knowledge and transform it into economically useful forms. But innovation really thrives within local ecosystems, places with close interaction between educators, researchers, businesses, finance, community partners and other local organizations.

Indeed, the factors that promote knowledge generation, innovation and the attraction and retention of talent coalesce in relatively few places. These are typically urban regions where the rich, dense mix of diverse economic actors fosters collaboration and the circulation of knowledge, where a high quality of life exerts a strong pull on highly educated workers, and where linkages to other global centres of knowledge production and innovation are strong.

These are also places that, without exception, host strong research universities. Such institutions play a key role in producing the new knowledge and well-educated talent that fuels prosperity, while serving as vital connectors to other global knowledge centres.

In this context, there is no doubt our most important contribution is to nurture and enrich graduates who are properly prepared for a lifetime of success. We have a responsibility to offer our students a judicious combination of breadth and depth, to develop their ability to think critically and craft effective arguments, to solve problems, communicate well, and work well in teams, to be both literate and numerate, to be globally aware, and to be able to continue to learn throughout their lives. Our ability to produce well-educated graduates plays a huge role in attracting incoming investment from around the world. So too does our ability to generate leading-edge knowledge in many fields of fundamental inquiry. Recent investments by global companies such as Johnson & Johnson in Toronto, Google in Waterloo, and IBM in Hamilton demonstrate that we can attract the world's best.

To build on this success as Canada's most significant technology cluster, what other roles should our institutions play to maximize our contribution to regional and national prosperity? In our view, we need to make the boundaries between our campuses and the communities around us more porous, in at least three ways.

First, as a complement to fundamental, investigator-initiated research, we need to do more to foster research partnerships with external entities such as private industry, not-for-profit organizations and public sector agencies. Both parties stand to benefit from a closer relationship. External partners gain access to specialized expertise and facilities, as well as talented prospective graduates to hire. University faculty benefit by working on interesting problems identified by their partners, problems whose solution may lead to insights of fundamental importance. And our students learn valuable lessons and make valuable contacts by participating in such research partnerships. For example, the successful partnership between IBM and 14 universities in Southern Ontario uses advanced computing tools to foster research collaboration between academic and industry researchers.

Second, in addition to the learning that takes place on campus, we need to expand the number of work-integrated-learning opportunities for our students, hosted by our partners off campus. Internships, co-op placements, professional experience years and service learning in the community also benefit both parties. Our students learn how to apply their academic knowledge in practical settings, and get an important leg up on employment opportunities post-graduation. Our partners benefit from the regular influx of energy, creativity and talent. Their support is crucial in helping us achieve this objective.

Third, many of our students are now interested in starting their own enterprises. This phenomenon has become widespread across virtually every discipline, constituting another form of experiential learning. In addition to providing supportive spaces on our campuses for our student entrepreneurs, we need to broker mentorships with successful entrepreneurs from the communities around us. Again, the support of our partners will foster mutual benefits.

At a time when Canadians are asking themselves how we can ensure future prosperity, a more porous, engaged university, embedded in deep relationships with community partners, has much to offer.

Patrick Deane is President and Vice-Chancellor of McMaster University.

Meric Gertler is President of the University of Toronto.

Feridun Hamdullahpur is President and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Waterloo.