All Posts Tagged With: "canada"
Our universities can be smarter
Canada’s ‘big five’ presidents have an ambitious plan for fixing our schools, says Wells
Perhaps we are not putting too many words into the mouths of the presidents of Canada’s largest universities when we say something is nagging at them. A sense that things have become skewed in Canada’s higher education system, and more broadly in the way Canada’s economy and society face an uncertain future.
How else to explain the decision by these five top university presidents to approach Maclean’s for an interview? And how else to explain that—after their aides and helpers took care to assure us that the five presidents had “no specific ask” when they offered to talk—they showed up with an agenda for major change in their own institutions and in Canadian society at large?
Over the course of a 90-minute video conference, the big five presidents said their institutions must be given the means and mandates to set themselves still further apart from the rest of Canada’s universities—to pursue world-class scientific research and train the most capable graduate students, while other schools concentrate on undergraduate education. The vision they described would be a challenge to the one-size-fits-all mentality that has governed Canada’s higher education system.
But these five are not only concerned with their own institutions’ place in the pecking order of Canadian higher education. The presidents called for what one of them, David Naylor of the University of Toronto, called a “first ministers’ conference on the innovation economy.” The question that would face the Prime Minister and the provincial premiers at that conference would be: how can Canada improve its performance at putting new ideas to work in the private sector?
Such a summit-level attempt to grapple with Canada’s lagging competitiveness would amount to another sea change. And it reflects a growing consensus among academic leaders that the biggest failure to adopt new ideas doesn’t lie with universities or governments but with a timid and risk-averse corporate culture. That’s why, if first ministers do meet to discuss innovation and the knowledge economy, “having industry leadership there with government and universities is absolutely crucial,” said Heather Munroe-Blum, principal of McGill University.
If anyone is occupationally bound to worry about the future, of course, it’s these five, superb academics and gifted administrators. Along with Naylor and Munroe-Blum, we talked to Stephen Toope, the president of the University of British Columbia; Indira Samarasekera of the University of Alberta; and Luc Vinet of the Université de Montréal.
They have had a bit of a wild year. The economic crisis has played havoc with the endowments that pay some of their bills. Governments looking for shovel-ready stimulus projects have more than made up the difference, but the presidents can’t be sure that taxpayer-funded largesse will last: in the 1990s, the last time federal and provincial governments got serious about eliminating budget deficits, they did it through painful short-term cuts to university and college budgets. Will that happen again?
It certainly will if political leaders continue to regard universities as a nice place to cut ribbons, but not as important resources in addressing Canada’s broader challenges. The big five presidents worry about drift and lack of direction in our higher education system. That direction can only come from political leaders. So all of the presidents, even Montreal’s Vinet, called for Ottawa to pay more attention to what happens on Canada’s campuses.
Q & A with Osel Hita Torres
A rare interview with one of Buddhism’s most enigmatic figures
Maclean’s OnCampus: What is your response to the media reports claiming you’ve renounced your religion and calling?
O: It’s not true. A newspaper found out about an original interview [I did], and they said we’re going to do an article on you, whether you want to or not. They didn’t have much information. But I agreed, which I regret a lot. They changed everything. I said so many positive things they didn’t put, they blew things up and exaggerated facts, and it bugged me, because they were really nice at the beginning, saying it would be good for my image.
But is it fair to say you aren’t directly involved with your religion as one might expect?
O: I’m actually really involved with them and in contact a lot, we do have brainstorming…It’s not like I’m a renegade at heart, or a runaway.
Your relationsip with the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition [the organization Osel is slated to lead] and how you deal with your responsibilities is different, though.
O: You could say that. But I’m still treading on my own path, I’m chilling out. I’m working really hard to accomplish things…I’m working on a masters degree on documentaries, afterwards maybe next year I’ll do some course on cooking, become a cook, and then maybe I’ll start doing something there, you know. But I’m taking it slow.
What do you make of all this attention?
O: I’m trying to live a really normal life, the friends I have know the stories but they don’t make a big deal of it, I’m really chill with it. I don’t have people saying I’m so disappointed in you, because the people I’m around don’t really recognize me, so it’s cool. I hope it doesn’t change.
Let’s talk about your time in Canada. To be clear, after years of studying in monasteries, you decided you needed a western education?
O: I left, and decided I needed a different education, because while I had the philosophy down, I really didn’t know much about the outside world.
What did you know about Canada before coming here?
O: Nothing basically. Two years before, I had been to Vancouver for a few days, but I had no idea about anything.
What was your general reaction to your first few days in school?
O: It was quite an adventure. No one knew me, so I could build up my personality, and create my own person, from zero, and that was great for me, because I could start over.
Uh-oh Canada: Our researchers may head south
President Obama’s arrival coincides with stalling Canadian investment in research
The Times Higher Education Supplement suggests that universities across Canada may soon face a brain drain as a result of the contrasting federal government policies on academic research on either side of the Canada-U.S. border:
The mood among US scientists is buoyant after Barack Obama used his inaugural presidential address to emphasise his commitment to research, promising to bring the curtain down on years of neglect under George W. Bush.
But in neighbouring Canada, the future looks less certain, as President Obama’s arrival has coincided with the stalling of public investment in research.
This is seen by some as an ominous concurrence that threatens to reverse the recent brain drain that has seen scientists flee the US for greener pastures north of the border.
And then… what do you do after graduating?
It isn’t just the twenty-somethings who are asking questions
Ever since we’ve started blogging about our book, Kickstart: How Successful Canadians Got Started, we’ve been getting a lot of unexpected responses from those younger than us, trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives. When we first started interviewing well-known Canadians for the book (when it was still just a “project”), the aim was to pass everything we learned on to others of our generation, those members that Time Magazine had labelled “The Twixters.” A great number of our friends had just graduated from university and weren’t quite sure what road to take, what jobs to pursue, what to do next. We thought learning about successful people in arts, business, politics, etc. could help all of us get a clearer picture about the many opportunities out there.
But, with time, we realized something. Clearly, young people wanted to know about careers in their particular fields (like the story of cardiovascular surgeon Dr. Tirone David) or about those who did things a little differently (think of House creator David Shore). But it wasn’t just the twenty-somethings who were asking questions. Those in a younger generation, those still in high school, wanted to know more.
Maybe it’s obvious. It seems that students at an even younger age are concerned about what their future holds in store. Especially now, when there are so many opportunities (notwithstanding the current economic turmoil). What’s the best way to become a doctor? A lawyer? A writer? An activist? These are questions that all high school students should at least be considering. And, often, they can have an impact on where (or even if) one chooses to go to college or university.
Our goal with Kickstart is for teenagers to take note: of the possibilities out there, of the routes to take and of the great lessons learned from those Canadians who have been there before us.
Ujjal Wins His Seat! or Young People Being Blocked
Just a note to congratulate our contributing feature Ujjal Dosanjh for winning his riding of Vancouver South, defeating the Conservative candidate Wai Young by just over 30 votes. As we said already, John Godfrey, also featured in Kickstart, did not run, but his Liberal replacement in Toronto’s Don Valley West Rob Oliphan did – and [...]
Just a note to congratulate our contributing feature Ujjal Dosanjh for winning his riding of Vancouver South, defeating the Conservative candidate Wai Young by just over 30 votes. As we said already, John Godfrey, also featured in Kickstart, did not run, but his Liberal replacement in Toronto’s Don Valley West Rob Oliphan did – and won. And, so that no one thinks we have too many Liberals featured in Kickstart, we have the story of Brian Mulroney, who is, in many ways, the arch-Conservative.
And just a note on the low voter turnout (just under 60% for the first time ever): many people I have spoken to said that, among twenty-somethings, those that didn’t vote usually tried to vote but were turned away for having insufficient ID or the polling station had been moved to another location without notice. I think these point to structural problems, as much as anything about youth “apathy” or any other tagword floating around the media.
Amal and the definition of success
How does one measure their own success?
I know we’re supposed to taylor the first few blog posts to the central theme of being young, having graduated and trying to find your way in the world, but something came up which I couldn’t resist writing about. Not to worry, there will be plenty of blog posts recounting some incredible stories from the early lives of well-known Canadians — from astronaut Roberta Bondar to children’s performer Raffi, and beyond.
But last night I saw a movie; or , rather, a “film.” It was called Amal. It is a Canadian film, already in theatres (or, more accurately, “in theatre“) for the past five days, that follows the events surrounding the death of an eccentric Indian millionaire, his misguided — and surprisingly cruel — children, and the title character, an autorickshaw driver whose heart is so golden, it weighs him down endlessly, as he weaves his way through the congested streets of Delhi.
Director Richie Mehta tells a simple story. One could even call it a fable. It was put together for less than a million dollars, no small feat for a film these days. The ending comes as a surprise, though it makes absolute sense. And the theme of wealth reverberates throughout the story. Who has more of it — the heirs of a rich man or the one who leads a peaceful, altogether happy, existence?
That question was one we tackled while conducting our interviews for Kickstart. We set out to learn the early stories of Canada’s most “successful” citizens. But how does one measure success? Is it an individual’s net worth (think of billionaire Jim Pattison)? Or is it the amount they give away (think of entrepreneur and philanthropist Peter Munk)? Does it mean leading a balanced life (a lesson passed on from so many of our interviewees, including Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, Beverley McLachlin)? Or being happy within yourself?
We hear these questions buzzing around Amal’s rickshaw as he escorts his patrons in and out of the city’s byzantine centre. The ultimate result of Amal’s insouciant quest is that he never knows how close he may come to attaining wealth, unless of course he’s had it all along. “The wealthiest person is a pauper at times,” goes the song, performed by everyone from The Byrds to Johnny Cash and Jeff Buckley, “compared to the man with a satisfied mind.”
The film is touching in its poignancy, believable in its intimacy and endearing in its home-made style. My co-author Paul could go on at length about how important it is to support local films in their first few days: if the theatre senses a lack of audience, it will immediately withdraw the film, letting it flounder and end up in a vault somewhere, unseen by the masses.
Do yourself a favour: go and see this movie. It’s well worth the investment.
Alexander Herman is co-author of Kickstart: “How Successful Canadians Got Started,” a book based on interviews with over fifty well-known people from across the country. He has studied at Trinity College Dublin and is currently studying law at McGill University. He has also written a work of fiction called “The Toronto Trinity.”
Holy crap: Victoria’s pitching a loaf
A recent article in Macleans reports that Victoria is the only city in Canada that- get this- discharges its sewage “raw.” Meaning, if Victoria’s human waste was a DVD, it would be the complete and uncut edition. Victoria is Canada’s disgusting child. The one who pees all over the toilet seat. The one who, after [...]
A recent article in Macleans reports that Victoria is the only city in Canada that- get this- discharges its sewage “raw.” Meaning, if Victoria’s human waste was a DVD, it would be the complete and uncut edition.
Victoria is Canada’s disgusting child. The one who pees all over the toilet seat. The one who, after eating a Caesar salad, gets a white creamy moustache. When Victoria, Ottawa, and Toronto had a family barbecue, Victoria picked his nose and then rubbed his finger in Ottawa’s hair. Toronto, too mature and sophisticated for such childish behaviour, went indoors and watched Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
After Macleans finally provided proof in a previous issue that Canadians are better than Americans, I was feeling pretty smug. Superior. Arrogant (American, almost). But it doesn’t matter if we’re richer and healthier: we crap in the ocean.
Sure, if we were American, we would be nobly crapping in the ocean to provide a source of methane gas to underwater vents. We would be crapping in the name of Freedom and patriotically slow-motion rippling flags. But it’s still pretty embarrassing that Victoria clearly didn’t sign the Charter of Not Being Repulsive.
But really, why waste so much money on plumbing? It would be less expensive to set up toilet paper stations along the beach.
Yup. I would hate to be a fish in Victoria.
