Passion

Recently I had the opportunity to speak to a group of students studying at one of the leading high schools in Korea. I had been invited as a distinguished speaker to visit the school and address the students. We decided that the best format for this presentation was an interview in which I would answer a series of six questions on such topics as my childhood in Africa, my undergraduate experiences, my days with the NASA space program, my time as President of the University of British Columbia and finally, what I had learned as the President of the Canada Foundation for Innovation. This was essentially an opportunity to explain how my own life experiences had contributed to the vision we have created for Quest.

I enjoyed responding to these questions but what impressed me most were the students at this outstanding Korean high school.

When one of the students asked about the admission requirements of Quest University Canada, we turned the question around and asked, “Knowing what you know about this university, what criteria would you set as being most important for admission?”

Having shared my answers to the questions that had been presented to me, I was hugely gratified when a student answered: “passion”. For of all the things that I have learned and experienced in my life, it is a passion for challenge, for inquiry, for discovery, and for experiencing all that this incredible world has to offer that has shaped who I am today. And I thank that student in a Korean high school for reminding me of the starting point of all education – a desire for discovery, a passion for adventure, a joy in dealing with challenges. (I hope he applies to Quest!)

Quest Video

Some of you who read this blog have expressed interest in learning more about Quest University Canada. In this age of incredible technology, I am happy to share with you the video we produced this past summer. With any luck, if you click the play button below, you'll see and hear a little bit about our project.

The Emerging Power of China

Recently I was in Kunming, China attending a meeting of an association of university presidents of which I am a member. Returning to the hotel in the evening, I turned on the TV to catch the news. It was a memorable moment as I watched representatives of 48 African nations walk across the stage to be greeted by China’s President in the Great Hall of the People. The occasion was the Africa-China Summit. Together these leaders signed $1.9 billion U.S. worth of business development and trade agreements. China also announced they would offer $5 billion in loans and credit and double their aid to Africa by 2009.

With an historic meeting and the stroke of a pen, the dynamics of the relationship between Africa and the West has been dramatically changed as China and the developing countries of Africa begin forging strong relationships.

China is boldly and dynamically building friendly relations with African counties with a keen eye to the future and the potential for the exploitation of Africa’s natural resources, particularly oil. It is a coup of significant proportions potentially causing a major shift in international positioning. For the moment at least, the West has been outflanked. It would be ironic if this led to the West beginning to break down its agricultural subsidies in order to enable success at the WTO Doha Round of Negotiations. These negotiations stalled essentially because the West would not end its agricultural subsidies which have kept prices high, and as such, inaccessible to most African nations.

I should note that Kunming, once the isolated provincial capital of Yunnan province, is today a bustling urban centre of more than 5 million people. The broad clean streets bear witness to the community’s slogan, “city of eternal spring” - even at this time in November there is an abundance of flowers, green trees and pleasantly warm weather. The building boom seems relentless with new construction wherever you look. Modern, well-stocked department stores with all of the latest designer goods, fashions and trends vie with traditional markets and hawkers for the attention of locals and an increasingly large number of international visitors. The major billboard in the centre of the city features the latest handsome young singing sensation, a guy with attitude called “Jay”. A student guide informed me that the slogan beneath his picture translates as “Don’t take the usual path”. I couldn’t help but feel that the new youth of China are an incredible force for the future. I have no doubt that they will indeed break new ground.

Integrative Learning - A Key Component of Higher Education

For some time now I have wanted to reflect on exactly why I think it is important to integrate the arts and the sciences in undergraduate education.

Researchers, journalists, writers and thinkers around the globe are more productive than ever before. Estimates are that the amount of new information is more than doubling every ten years. Assessing and analyzing even a tiny fraction of the current global output – to say nothing of knowledge generated in earlier years – is a daunting challenge. The addition of different cultural perspectives, new academic disciplines, countless discoveries and new ideas, and the massive expansion of the world’s university systems and research capabilities have made it impossible for even the most devoted and engaged citizen to stay on top of anything but a small fraction of the knowledge, information, ideas and insights now in circulation.

The result, not surprisingly, has been the development of academic and personal specialization within the post-secondary education system. Increasingly people know more and more about less and less. Students are expected to specialize early, often receiving little or no introduction to the insights and ideas generated in another part of the academy. Subsequently many students graduate from university with a highly fragmented understanding of the knowledge available in the world and few strategies for coping with its complexity.

“What is needed?”

Ironically, our complex, inter-connected world requires more integration of knowledge, not less, and more generalists to work with the specialists now graduating from our universities. Scientists need to understand the dictates of national politics and the ethical parameters within which new discoveries must be developed. Cultural understanding, in the form of language, literature, and popular culture, has to be integrated into efforts to explain regional, national, and international social movements. Understanding the social dynamics of technological change requires knowledge of both social structures and the intricacies of contemporary technologies. The myriad influences of globalization – ecological change, cultural diffusion, political, and economic integration – require many different perspectives. Citizens seeking to work in this rapidly changing and complex intellectual environment require the skill of integration and the ability to work with and between bodies of disciplinary knowledge.

We need to rekindle enthusiasm for intellectual integration. We need to encourage students to read between the disciplines and to develop the special skills of synthesis. We need to revive the generalist approach to personal growth and intellectual development.

Quest University Canada is inspired by precisely this kind of thinking. I am convinced that an education based on the science of synthesis and integration, learning across cultures and academic disciplines, will prepare our graduates very well for the challenges and opportunities of an interconnected, interdependent world. And that’s why I think it is so important to integrate the arts and the sciences.

I would like to hear other’s views on this great challenge we face in preparing students for life in the 21st century. What do you think about the direction of education for the future? And by the way, a warm welcome to dialogue at Quest!

Gratitude

This year the celebration of the full moon mid-Autumn festival in most East Asian countries, and Thanksgiving in Canada, coincide. It is a special time for returning home and spending time with family. It is a time for giving thanks for the simple abundance with which we have been blessed - a time to pause and reflect and take stock and prepare for the winter days ahead.

Here at Quest University Canada we are just completing the first phase of recruiting visits to high schools. Next week our Admission Counsellors will return home from the field before another round of visits later in October and November. We look forward to learning about the response of students, parents and schools to the opportunity that our University offers to students to learn, to participate and to make a difference in the world. I have to admit that I am a bit antsy, waiting to hear the news -- hopeful and anxious that students will want to join us in this grand adventure and in turn, that their parents will be willing to support them in doing so.

I am hoping for great results but I also know that we will learn from whatever experience confronts us. To date, we have received many positive indications from all over North America and the world. Having said that, we are fully aware of the importance of the university decision and to that end, we are prepared to work as hard as is necessary to help students and families make an informed judgment about enrolling with us.

And so yesterday, as I signed an agreement with the President of the National Outdoor Leadership School to have them join us as a Founding Partner, I felt a real sense of what a great Thanksgiving Day Weekend this will be for us here at Quest. We are prepared in the best possible sense to work together with partners and students from around the world to create a unique learning experience that combines integrated academic learning with development of leadership and teamwork skills. Working in small groups, our students will learn to become expedition guides to people facing the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. What a great thing this is for which to be able to give thanks!

As Summer turns to Autumn

Here in Squamish, the first leaves are beginning to turn golden and the days are a bit shorter, with a cool dampness in the morning air – sure signs that autumn is on its way. After so many years as a university president, what I miss most of all right now is the incredible energy of students pouring onto the campus with the beginning of the new fall term.

Here at Quest University Canada, our first group of students will only arrive just before September 2007. Although there is still much to be done in preparation for opening, I know that the heart of the University will only come truly alive when the pulse of student life reverberates throughout our campus. In the meantime, the incredible spirit of the staff keeps our offices alive with laughter and lively discussion and a shared sense of anticipation. Everyone is planning and doing something – there are projects underway everywhere. It’s truly incredible!

Since I’m thinking of it, what will you miss most of all as this summer turns to autumn? What keeps you excited about the future? And what projects do you have underway?

Airport Security, Technology, and the Advancement of Freedoms

Not long ago Air Canada sent me an e-mail advising of increased security measures at all airports, longer delays in checking in and clearing security, and the banning from carrying on board, liquids or gels in containers of any size. As a frequent air traveler, I groaned at the thought of the added time and inconvenience.

By chance, not long after, I happened to be talking on the phone to a Canadian friend of Lebanese Arabic background. When I heard the quiet sadness and frustration in his voice, I suddenly realized how minor my concern with inconvenience was when compared to the effect these kinds of measures are having on people throughout many other segments of our world community.

I wonder how long such measures can be sustained and whether there might be other alternatives -- some less intrusive means to protect people traveling by air. For example, I have been a participant for some years now in a special program which allows me to return to Canada and quickly pass through Canadian entry procedures using iris scanning identification technology.

Protecting us from criminal activity and invasion of privacy are valid concerns. It is equally clear that we must move towards integrating technology into advancing our freedoms, not just putting in place more controls. Learning to balance freedoms and responsibilities, to recognize opportunities and risks, to make difficult choices wisely – these are some of the things I hope our students will discover during their time on this mountain campus. I am convinced that working together, we can find better solutions grounded in our shared commitment as humans, not only to live, but to live well.

One Year and Counting...

For most families and kids, this past weekend’s Labour Day signals the end of summer and the beginning of the new school year. For me, it’s a time of special significance as a year from now we will be welcoming our inaugural class of students to Quest University Canada. A long time vision will finally be a reality.

For this last week of summer, my wife Alice and I stayed in Fergus, Ontario where Alice grew up and where she still has family. A small creek runs along the back of our property and while some parts of this small town have changed over the years, the gurgling of the creek remains a constant and comforting feature of our life here. It always links us back to this little plot of land which has been a part of our family for many years.

I can’t help but compare it to the Mamquam River which borders our campus in the Garibaldi Highlands of Squamish. Building a bridge to our campus across the canyon which embraces its tributary, Mashiter Creek, was the first great symbolic task of creating the University. I expect that like my regular visits to the little creek behind our old house in Central Canada, the students of Quest will come back to the Mamquam to reconnect with their memories of learning, growing and changing.

Over time, the stream becomes both science and art - a subject of research and a matter of the heart. One year from now Quest students will be engaged in a learning experience which we are designing with this powerful metaphor in mind.

Technology, Environment and the Squamish Oil Spill

As a boy, I grew up in Angola at a time when telephones and television were rare or non-existent. The reply to a letter one mailed could take 5-6 months, coming by boat of course. It was only after I retired as President of the University of British Columbia that I began to use a personal computer on a regular basis. In the process I have become an e-mail junkie; communicating electronically is now a vital way of keeping connected with colleagues and friends. The internet has also become an essential tool and just recently I’ve just been introduced to “pod-casting”.

When encouraged to start “blogging” as the President of Quest University Canada, I naturally wondered about the value of such an endeavor. Like so many of my other discoveries about technology, however, it is clear that this too can be a valuable tool for communication.

At Quest, we are attempting to work together to build an innovative and cooperative culture which values transparency, teamwork, and a willingness to take “good” risks. And I am fully persuaded that the most important thing we bring to one another is the added value of our interpersonal relationships and the social capital we create together. Having said that, we also live in a time when we must learn to maximize effective use of new technologies to build a sustainable world. My colleagues offered me their encouragement and assistance with my blog – so this is the inaugural posting.

When news of the recent oil spill in the Squamish waterfront hit the media, I took it as a signal that my blog was one way I could model what we are trying to accomplish at Quest. While it was troubling to read about the spill and the potential ecological damage, my thoughts quickly turned to how our future students could both learn from and positively impact the situation. I know they'd be actively involved in containing the danger and beginning to remediate its impact. They would follow-up by looking at the social, economic, political, and legal aspects of what happened. They’d have the scientific acumen to be able to examine the causes and the short and long term implications of the oil spill on the flora, fauna, and overall ecology of the affected areas and begin implementing strategies for minimizing the negative impacts. I can imagine their involvement in proposing improved guidelines for environmental impact management in these sensitive ecosystems. I can also foresee a range of relevant scientific projects for our students to explore.

At the same time I felt our students would go far beyond our angst at the oil spill affecting our shores. They would recognize that what happened here is just one example of the daunting challenges facing the world. From poverty and war to changing ecologies and economies, our students will recognize the interdependence of the world's problems and the need for coordinated global responses. I am more convinced than ever that Quest University Canada is strategically positioned to produce graduates who will be well-prepared to grapple with such complex challenges of the 21st century.

The official welcoming of our inaugural group of students in September 2007 can’t come soon enough for all of us working together on this incredible project. When the students come I am sure one of the first things they’ll want to see is how we as a community are working together on problems such as the protection of the spectacular habitat that surrounds us here in Squamish.

Quo vadis? they will ask, and then they will become part of the answer.