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Canada''s research universities economically indispensable.

Article Excerpt
Public research universities are seen as crucial to Canada's economic health: not only in providing needed post-secondary education for students to utilize in pursuing a prosperous career, but also as place of research and development that will bring new products and ideas to the market. In a knowledge-based society, continual research is necessary to stay on top of the market. It is vital that Canada's public research universities have strong support from both the public and private sectors, thereby safeguarding our economic place of strength on the world stage. Speech to the Empire Club, Toronto, Ontario, February 6, 2003.

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For all of its 175 years, the University of Toronto has been making positive contributions, in countless ways, to our community. I am privileged to lead my University into its third century, and deeply proud of its prominent role in shaping our city, our province and our country.

Today I intend to outline some of my views on the current state of the university of Toronto, and the uniquely important part that our public research universities, such as the University of Toronto, will need to play in our nation's future.

Canada's leading research universities, of which the University of Toronto is one, occupy a special place in the service of the public's educational needs. They do this by providing exemplary undergraduate and graduate education. Notably, their wide-ranging professional faculties educate professionals in virtually every field from health to architecture. Indeed, the graduates of their master's and doctoral programs enrich the workforce and become future faculty members in all of our universities and colleges. One statistic that I find particularly striking is that one out of every six professors at anglophone universities across Canada, from Dalhousie to UBC, possesses at least one University of Toronto degree.

What then do I mean when I speak of a leading research university? In my view, the top universities give equal value to teaching and research, and they combine research, scholarship and education in unique ways that shape not only the graduate, but also the undergraduate experience. Such universities attract very talented students, and the reasons are manifest. There is nothing more exciting for a student than sitting in a classroom, or lab, with a professor whose own work is helping to change the paradigm in his or her field; or who is deeply engaged...