The Council of Ontario Universities hopes to spark a province-wide conversation on how its members can be good partners in ensuring a brighter future.
Ontario’s universities are asking students and their parents what excites them and what concerns them about the future, to spark a province-wide conversation about how universities can be good partners in ensuring the future is brighter for everyone.
Students and parents are asked to imagine the future and their place in it, in an online survey at ontariosuniversities.ca. They can also join the conversation on social media @futuringON and #futuring.
“We’re asking people ‘what keeps you up at night?’” says David Lindsay, president of the Council of Ontario Universities (COU), which kicked off the #futuring campaign last week during the Ontario Universities’ Fair.
“The world is changing so quickly and in ways we couldn’t have imagined possible. Disruptive technology, demographic shifts and globalization bring tremendous opportunities, but all that uncertainty can also make people anxious,” he said. “Universities want to have a conversation about what we can all do together to help shape tomorrow, and to make sure no one is left behind.”
Universities will spend the year in their communities asking businesses, health and social service agencies, arts and cultural creators, not-for-profits, researchers, municipal governments and more what they think about the future.
Findings will be made public throughout the year in a series of online postings, blogs and reports, culminating in a summit next year on Ontario’s future and how universities can partner to help Ontarians succeed.