FOCUS ON EXPERIENTIAL EDUCATION, ENTREPRENEURSHIP, AND INNOVATION
In an economy where two-thirds of new jobs require post-secondary education and 40-70 per cent of existing jobs will be disrupted by artificial intelligence and automation, universities have never been more important. In this context, York University is redefining how we prepare students for success by linking our commitment to access, connectedness, excellence and impact.
Expanding access to higher education has always been central to York’s mission. We know that our province and our country cannot afford to leave talent behind. Since our founding in 1959, we have opened the door to success for hundreds of thousands of students from diverse backgrounds, including young people who are the first in their family to attend university, new Canadians, mature students, and those from marginalized backgrounds. When I talk to our students, I hear every day about the sacrifices they and their families make so they can go to university. Over 60 per cent of our students work part-time. They work hard because they and their families believe that York can unlock opportunity for them.
We must deliver on that promise. My guiding question as President of York is, “What can we do to help students and families realize their personal goals and ensure that we have the resources needed to stay competitive as a country?”
Providing students with a high-quality, research-intensive learning environment is central to our efforts. York continues to develop new programs that respond to emerging labour market needs while also growing the number and quality of expe- riential education opportunities available to our students locally and internationally. Experiential education provides students with hands-on learning activities that connect the skills and knowledge acquired in academic programs to the workplace or the community through internships, co-op programs, community service learning, community-based research activities, simulations, clinical placements, and more.
Last fall, York’s Lassonde School of Engineering partnered with Canadian tech leader Shopify to bring a new model of experiential learning called DevDegree to the GTA. The program embeds students in Shopify development teams through a paid internship that culminates in an Honours Bachelor of Computer Science degree. Shopify pays the students’ tuition for the full four-year program.
I worked to pay my way through university, often in jobs that had little or nothing to do with my career aspirations. I would have jumped at the opportunity to do paid work directly connected to my education. Knowing that, I am thrilled to be working with Shopify to provide the DevDegree opportunity to our students.
We recently launched the YU Experience Hub, an innovative centre that works with students, faculty, staff, community groups and industry partners to expand experiential learning opportunities across the university. The Hub joins new and well-established experiential learning initiatives in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, the Lassonde School of Engineering, Osgoode Hall Law School, the Schulich School of Business and our Faculty of Health.
York is also revolutionizing how we support students and graduates as they create their own businesses and stimulate economic growth in communities across the GTA and Ontario. Between 2016-17 and 2017-18, we nearly doubled the number of entrepreneurs we nurtured in our programs. At the same time, the number of start-ups hosted by York more than tripled. This unprecedented growth is the result of a cross-campus commitment to innovation, exemplified by our LaunchYU program that currently supports over 3,400 entrepreneurs—students, faculty and community members. In Spring 2017, we opened YSpace in Markham, an incubator designed to facilitate partnerships between York and businesses, social services and schools in York Region.
We will not stop there. We are committed to expanding access to higher education while creating even more experiential learning opportunities for our students, ensuring that they have the knowledge, skills and experience to realize their full potential for their own benefit and that of the country.
York is also revolutionizing how we support students and graduates as they create their own businesses and stimulate economic growth in communities across the GTA and Ontario.