Striving to `be what the world needs': Usask
By any benchmark, the University of Saskatchewan's growing achievements are impressive.
If you want to hear some good news on the Prairies, just talk to Peter Stoicheff, president of the University of Saskatchewan (Usask). “Our enrolment is up for the ninth year in a row, and significantly,” he enthuses, then goes on to point out that funding to the University from major granting agencies is at a record level, and that “our international rankings soared.”
Out of the approximately 2,000 foremost educational institutions around the world that were ranked independently, Usask jumped 120 places in the last year, an accomplishment Stoicheff believes is “probably unheard of.” Global recognition at this level has helped to bolster Usask's reputation as a leading research and medical-doctoral granting institution. Indeed, students on campus represent 130 different countries, and, as with other programs, enrolment keeps growing.
Stoicheff emphasizes that international students at Usask represent a value far greater than their tuition. “If you are a major research-intensive university, it's wonderful to have these students, this diversity, especially at the graduate level, because they really support our research enterprise.”
More and more of the graduate students are also choosing to stay in the province, a trend among all Usask graduates in recent years. “Not that long ago, a lot of our graduates would leave Saskatchewan. Now, over 70 per cent stay in the province,” says Stoicheff.
Usask is home to 17 colleges and schools, which is uniquely high in Canada. The greatest enrolments are in the health sciences: dentistry, medicine, pharmacy and nutrition, veterinary medicine and public health.
Stoicheff is also pleased with progress in Indigenous education. Not only has enrolment increased, but also — and perhaps more importantly — student retention and number of graduates. Part of that success is due to formal relationships Usask has developed with First Nations, the Métis Nation and Wanuskewin Heritage Park.
All of these achievements speak to the mission of the University of Saskatchewan when it began in 1907. It has often been referred to as “the people's university”, and that has not changed. “The people of this province really believe in this university, and we want to be responsive to that. We're not just doing what we think is important, but rather what others think is important.”
Creating formal relationships in both the public and private sectors has helped to keep Usask in touch with the province and its people. “This university has always been service-oriented, from its earliest days when it supported agriculture,” says Stoicheff. “We have to develop those relationships. Not all of them are just in the sciences, but in what builds the cultural fabric of this region.”
Speaking about today, Stoicheff says, “I'm looking forward to the University being more deliberate and intentional about how we can support the innovation agenda of our city, province and country.” He adds, “Usask faculty and graduates have already been very successful with ventures such as SED Systems, Skip the Dishes, and Pic-a-tic. This is a very innovative city, a fast-growing IT hub, and one of the fastest-growing regions for venture capital investment on the continent.
“We're building an `innovation corridor' in Saskatoon that will stretch from Innovation Place, through the University, and into the downtown.”
Supporting innovation also includes the arts, humanities and social sciences. “It's not just the disciplines like business, computer science and engineering,” says Stoicheff. “The fine arts are a big part of that.” He points to Silicon Valley companies owned by Canadians: “The large majority of those companies were started by people with humanities degrees.”
Stoicheff is also excited about Saskatchewan Polytechnic moving its Saskatoon campus to Innovation Place on the Usask campus. He believes the move “represents the future of post-secondary education, where a very good polytechnic has its own mission that's quite separate from ours in terms of the credentials it offers, and a major research university, and a research park, are all co-located. I don't think you can find that anywhere else.”
Stoicheff is not alone in his optimism and confidence in the University of Saskatchewan. In April 2023, Usask launched its Be What the World Needs capital campaign, with a goal of $500 million. It is the largest capital campaign in the history of the province, and a huge jump from the University's previous campaign that had a goal of $35 million. Already, Be What the World needs has surpassed $400 million.
“All these things tell us we've got a lot of support, and we're independently seen as a very fine university that's getting better all the time,” says Stoicheff. “As an outward-facing university, we're trying to match our strengths with what the world needs. We have VIDO, because the world needs vaccines. We have the Global Institute for Food Security, the Global Institute for Water Security. Universities now are more important than they ever have been.”