Doctoral student Nesreen Elkord’s work to integrate Arab immigrants into Canadian schools is one of the “Future Maker stories” highlighted in the report, Partnering for a Better Future for Ontario.
In a report released Tuesday by the Council of Ontario Universities, its members laid out their role as active and willing partners in securing a more vibrant and prosperous future for students, communities and the province.
Partnering for a Better Future for Ontario — which includes 24 recommendations to government — caps off a year of listening, during which universities engaged with hundreds of thousands of Ontarians though an online survey, roundtables, and at public events to hear their hopes and concerns about the future, says COU president David Lindsay.
“What Ontarians told us over the past year is that they don’t want a society of silos; they want a society of partners,” he says. “They recognize that the world is changing rapidly and they are largely optimistic about the future. But they also have concerns — for example, job security, technological disruption, the aging population, and the effects of climate change.”
Among the report’s key recommendations to the Ontario government are:
- Prepare students for tomorrow’s workplace by investing in more experiential opportunities and providing incentives to employers to work with universities on expanding access to these opportunities.
- Invest to help universities expand their network of incubators that help entrepreneurs launch businesses, and provide more graduate scholarships and other incentives to attract the best talent to the province.
- Expand support for research in medicine and health care, and work with universities to ensure they are helping train the right mix of health care professionals to provide high-quality care for all Ontarians.
- Help move universities’ ideas and inventions into the marketplace by creating a research commercialization fund.
“Now is Ontario’s time to shine, and Ontario’s universities see partnerships as the model through which we can all work together for a better future for all,” says Lindsay. “Ontario’s 21 universities are deeply ingrained in the fabric of this province through the students they train, the research they produce, and the knowledge and expertise they share with our local communities.”