Although the University’s 200th birthday is 16 years away, Principal Patrick Deane and Queen’s are already gearing up for the bicentennial celebration.
A discussion paper, titled “Queen’s Bicentennial Vision,” was sent out via e-mail to the Queen’s community on Jan. 17. It outlines the milestone anniversary nearly two decades away and positions it as an opportunity for the University to reflect and plan for the future. The paper covers topics such as the University’s current financial challenges, the rising emphasis on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) fields, and broader institutional plans. A summary page was also released by the University to outline the basic themes touched on in the paper.
In an interview with The Journal, Principal Deane emphasized the importance of charting a deliberate course for the University as it approaches this milestone.
“It’s about the importance of having our own destiny in our own hands. We don’t want to wind up with a University that has a particular shape and direction by accident or as a result of decisions governments make about funding and so on. We want, in 2041, to have a Queen’s that’s as it is by our design,” Deane said.
A core theme in the paper is the preservation of humanities and ensuring they don’t become secondary to hard sciences such as engineering. While acknowledging the shift toward STEM degrees, Deane stresses the value of offering a holistic education which allows students to understand the different variables in any issues they’ll face.
“The great challenges that face humanity are multidisciplinary. In that context, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to be training people in a mono-disciplinary way,” Deane said.
Deane highlights the need for global engagement, emphasizing the dual importance—both for students to have the global understanding they need to exceed once they graduate and to continue attracting international talent to the University to assist in their commitment to providing high-quality research.
He warns policies restricting international students could harm both the University’s finances and its academic mission.
“This needs to be an institution with global standing and global perspective,” Deane said.
When asked how he would ensure the University set itself up for success after addressing budgetary issues, he explained they’d be taking a logical approach to finances.
That involves dealing with our finances in a way that isn’t premised on hope but is premised on clear-sighted good sense and realistic expectation. That is premised on a willingness to do things differently if the way we’ve been doing them is not likely to be sustainable in the long term,” Deane said.
Deane acknowledges the current issues they’re facing are not brand new to Queen’s, drawing parallels to the University’s struggles around its 100th birthday.
“If you go back and look at the s of the first centenary in 1941, you see the University struggling with finances, struggling with geopolitical issues, it’s all very familiar. I think that is because universities, as public institutions, are always caught up in those cycles,” Deane said.
In the paper, Deane called back to Principal Wallace’s speech during the centenary where he said that “the arts college, the erstwhile home of the humanities and liberal culture, is moving towards an eclipse,” with Wallace adding a few years later that “our best students are going into the sciences.”
As a final message to students, Deane outlined what he wants people to take away from his paper.
“It’s always possible, even in difficult circumstances like these, to build the university to a shape that we value and that we think will help us to complete our academic mission,” Deane said.
Tags
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be ed, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to [email protected].