Today’s undergraduate experience

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Text on screen: [Universities Canada logo]

Text on screen: [Today’s undergraduate experience]

Text on screen: [Innovation in teaching and research]

Feridun Hamdullahpur, president, University of Waterloo:

University education is not just a collection of a number of courses that a student puts together and then that becomes his or her degree.

University education is a lot more complex. It’s a lot deeper. University education brings all kinds of different ingredients to interact with each other.

And it depends on the individual how they allow those interactions to take place.

While Feridun Hamdullahpur is speaking:

[Two male students and professor working together in an office.]

[Two female students and their female professor oversee experiments in a laboratory.]

[Two male students observe a test tube in a laboratory.]

[Three students working together at a picnic table on campus.]

[A professor teaches a male student in a lab.]

Elizabeth Cannon, president, University of Calgary:

We do a lot more internships where students spend part of their education out in the workplace and getting experience as part of their degree.

We see a lot more community engaged learning where students are matched with not-for-profit agencies. They’re out again in the field and getting academic credit.

We’re seeing more students take advantage of international opportunities.

While Elizabeth Cannon is speaking:

[Male professor shows how his wrist functions to two female medical students in a laboratory.]

[Three students wearing hard hats survey land in the forest.]

[Aerial shot of students doing field work in a river.]

[Female student photographs a male student holding a bird in the forest.]

George Iwama, president, University of Northern British Columbia:

We’re very committed to what might be called experiential learning. We invest and continue to invest in work. And having the students learn by doing.

We are exploring many differnt pedagogical models whether it’s the foundation year, like many other schools do in Canada. Block teaching formats like several other schools do in Canada and certainly in the United states as well.

So that students and their professors and their instructors can explore learning and teaching in many different ways. In contexts that should be relevant to the World in which we live.

While George Iwama is speaking:

[Female student looks at frogs in an aquatic tank.]

[Group of students seated in a cirle outside and listen to their professor.]

[Group of students observe their professor holding a slide in a laboratory.]

[Students take care of plant seedlings in a greenhouse.]

[A female and male student work with computers.]

[Two female students interact with a professor in a classroom.]

[Professor reviews work done by a male student in a laboratory.]

[Male student with a syringe adds liquid in a test tube.]

Elizabeth Cannon, president, University of Calgary:

So you’re seeing a lot more variety in terms of what students can do to create a very unique learning experience for them.

Which gives them skills and opportunities to build knowledge in their discipline.

But mix that with very practical knowledge and skills that are really going to help them hit the ground running when they graduate.

While Elizabeth Cannon is speaking:

[Female student works on an experiment in a laboratory.]

[Group of students, seated in a cirle in a common area, look upwards.]

[Male student with a flask in a laboratory.]

[Small group of students, at a table, work outdoors on campus.]

[Small group of students walk along trees in full foliage on campus.]

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Text on screen: [Universities Canada logo and website www.univcan.ca]