PROSPECTUS OTTAWA AS AN ‘EDUCATION CITY’? Carleton University’s newish president was the keynote at the Mayor’s Breakfast in February, speaking to a jam-packed crowd of business leaders in city council chambers. As I delivered welcoming remarks from the podium, I realized that not one, not two, but three post-secondary presidents were sitting beside each other: Carleton’s Dr. BenoitAntoine Bacon, Algonquin College’s Cheryl Jensen and uOttawa’s Jacques Frémont. (It should be noted that Lise Bourgeois of La Cité is a regular attendee, too.) Universities, like businesses, are hypercompetitive. It’s no exaggeration to say that there is an intense multimillion-dollar competition for students among local universities and colleges. Nevertheless, here were Ottawa’s post-secondary presidents sitting beside each other in solidarity. Way beyond seating positions, there seems to be spirit of co-operation and renewal in post-secondary education in the nation’s capital these days. Bacon spent some of the
address talking about the concept of Ottawa as an “education city.” It’s an intriguing idea. All the aforementioned postsecondary institutions met in November to “develop more integrated stackable academic programs and shared research shops that will help find solutions to challenges faced by businesses, non-profits and governments.” That’s a bit tough to decipher, but the “education city” initiative has real potential. But it isn’t the only notable development in the local post-secondary sector. There is a remarkable infrastructure boom on local campuses, particularly when it comes to business and entrepreneurship. This academic year, Algonquin College students are settling into the $45-million DARE District, a mashup containing an Indigenous entrepreneurship hub, energy lab, library and analytics centre. On the other side of town, La Cité recently opened a 40,000-square-foot addition called Excentricité. The French-language college says the $30-million centre will allow companies to work with students to develop business concepts, create prototypes and commercialize products. Back downtown, uOttawa’s Engineering School took a step
into the 21st century with a $115-million STEM complex that will “become the core of its own discovery district.” In addition, the Sprott School of Business will have a proper home on Carleton University’s campus when the 100,000-square-foot Nicol Building opens in fall 2020. While it’s true that buildings alone won’t move the yardstick on entrepreneurship and STEM, state-of-the-art facilities, when combined with modern programs and top-flight educators, will tend to attract the best and brightest. If the economic test of 2020 and beyond is about attracting and retaining young talent, Ottawa gets a passing grade in semester one. Collectively, can the universities and colleges demonstrate mastery when it comes to our education city?
@objpublisher Michael Curran
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