Five years of MDEI!
It is unbelievably now five full years since we welcomed the first students to our Masters of Digital Experience Innovation (MDEI) in September 2011. Much has happened since that time both within our walls and beyond.
It was July 2011 when we first announced our revolutionary MDEI program to combine Arts and Technology in order to encourage a new generation of digital leaders…those as skilled in design and critical thinking as they are in technology, social media and analytics. We had no expectations of generating any interest in the program that year given our late announcement but we were gratified in receiving many applications from Canada and around the world. And in September 2011, we welcomed the 16 successful students to our first cohort in our temporary offices in downtown Stratford to begin their studies while we completed construction of our new building.
And what an amazing cross-section of students we attracted over the years, from many countries including Canada, USA, Egypt, China, Nigeria, Pakistan and from a cross-section of undergraduate programs including Fine Arts, Engineering, Computer Science, and Business.
Add an amazing group of inspired teachers from the broadest range of faculties and universities, as well as skilled industry practitioners, and something unique started to emerge – the University of the 21st century: cross-disciplinary, industry integrated and determined to develop the best way to nurture problem solvers with creative business and technology acumen.
We developed an Accelerator Centre and quickly started to form relationships with corporations in order to generate meaningful projects on which our students could unleash their new-found design and problem solving skills. From insightful marketing strategies, to product design challenges to social media consultation, our students began to substantially contribute to our corporate partners and attract interest in the Canadian marketplace and beyond.
Our graduates, now numbering more than 100 have found meaningful employment in the largest of firms such as Samsung, CBC, D&H, Scotiabank, Postmedia, Google, IBM, TVO, Hyundai, SAP, and Thomson Reuters, while others have chosen to start their own companies and still others to continue graduate studies. Many of our graduates are teaching full or part-time in post-secondary Digital Media programs, including our own.
What an amazing journey over the past five years, and we are just beginning.
If you have enrolled in our MDEI studies this year, congratulations. You are joining a great network of established digital leaders who are really making a difference in the world.
Ginny Dybenko
Special Advisor to the Dean
University of Waterloo Stratford Campus
