In 1869, Harvard president Charles
W. Eliot made a statement that embodied the challenge faced by universities at the time, and which continues to represent the aspirations of universities today.
He noted that "...to make a good engineer, chemist, or architect, the only sure way is to make first, or at least simultaneously, an observant, reflecting and sensible man, whose mind is not only well stored, but well trained also to see, compare, reason and decide."
Now we would include women in the reference, but the sentiment is clear.
At the University of Northern British Columbia, this aspiration is our reason for being. While we train people for their futures, and provide them with a set of skills enabling them to succeed in an ever-changing economy and a transforming workforce, we also strive to create a generation of leaders who are "observant, reflecting and sensible."
Whenever I am asked to make public remarks about UNBC and our role within communities across northern B.C., and in particular Prince George, I always state that what is good for Prince George is good for UNBC, and vice versa.
We enjoy a relationship that sees each nurture the other. We invest in one another, we work with one another, and we have an eye to the future as individual organizations and as partners.
It's this commitment to collaboration that has made northern B.C. such a strong and vital region, the economic powerhouse of this province, and which has made it the place for young leaders to invest, build families, and nurture their self-development.
It is important for everyone to recognize that UNBC today faces an array of opportunities to pursue and achieve unprecedented excellence.
Our province leads the country, both in job creation and economic growth. We have a diversified economic base and are positioned to lead the way with new technology-based and creative industries. But, as we in the north know all too well, if we don't invest in the right initiatives at the right time, and in the right places, we can't succeed. You'd like an example of timely investment? Let me point to the Northern Medical Program. This daring and bold proposal was kick-started by thousands of northerners calling out for better care in a time when the professionals wouldn't come. The result, 10 years later, is more doctors calling the north home, more specialists returning to the north, and proof that if you train professionals in the north, they will stay in the north.
This is but one example of timely investments that have been made at UNBC and other post-secondary institutions across our region and province.
I see investment in post-secondary programming and capital infrastructure as necessary for the prosperity of our region. And that prosperity is not simply defined in financial terms; I measure prosperity in our social and cultural networks, our philanthropic pursuits, and in our sense of community.
At UNBC, we know the results of investment. A recent survey of our alumni (almost 1,500 participants) painted a clear picture of the value of post-secondary education in northern British Columbia: more than 60 per cent live in northern B.C.; 69 per cent are in management roles or roles of even greater responsibility such as CEO; and 72 per cent find employment within six months of graduation, many in sectors that provide critical services to our communities such as health care, social services and education.
I hope you share my enthusiasm for the prospects of northern B.C, a place of culture, creativity, innovation, success and, most importantly, leadership.
These attributes provide UNBC the advantage over its competitors to pursue excellence in teaching, research and service that the university community and the citizens of northern B.C. are entitled to expect. And I hope you know that UNBC is primed to continue moulding observant, reflecting and sensible graduates.
Those traits lead to a passion for reason, the ability to embrace conflict as an opportunity, not a threat, and a spirit of resilience.
After all, it's the resilience of northern B.C. that has made it a tremendous place and that, coupled with a spirit of partnership, can empower us to do a great many things.
Our present is exciting and our future is bright.
-- UNBC president Daniel Weeks
