With the aim of providing "Intimate, Integrated and International" education, Quest University Canada opened its doors to its first-ever intake of 77 students from around the world and their families at its opening convocation on Wednesday (Aug. 29).
After the faculty and students were piped into the main auditorium of the Garibaldi Highlands campus by five bagpipers, Quest's president, Dr. David Strangway, told the 300 people gathered that "you don't get to open a university every day."He asked the students to remember their own personal quests which brought them to apply to Quest and talked about his own, which stemmed from running some of the largest universities in Canada, including the University of British Columbia.
He said he was concerned by the way large-scale universities were developing - churning out graduates without developing their full potential.
"[It] isn't very complicated. After 12 years at UBC, I thought we needed a new type of university one that is small, academically driven," he said in his address.Strangway paid tribute to the donors, who gave millions to build the campus, as well as to the faculty, who spent the last year developing the program that the students will start from next week.
Dr. Jim Cohn, the university's curriculum co-ordinator for Arts and Humanities, greeted those gathered by telling them that they were pioneers in a new style of university in Canada - one that promised to set a standard of excellence that others would look up to.
"No one in this room - not you in the inaugural class, not your parents, not the faculty, not the administrators, not the staff, not the donors - no one would be here if they put much stock in the status quo," he said. "While the status quo is tending toward mass education, the founders of this university imagined and intimate education for you instead."
Cohn described the education the students will receive as a "curriculum that can't be found anywhere else in the world."Stewart Blusson, the Lions Bay-based philanthropist who donated $40-million to Quest to assist in its creation, addressed those gathered on what was his 27th wedding anniversary to his wife Marilyn.He told the students they were "part of something unique in Canada.
"It is a risk for some of you but I think you'll be amply rewarded," he said, adding that he hoped the experience would inspire a lifelong passion for knowledge and understanding.
Following the addresses, each student was asked read and sign a pledge on their academic conduct and social conduct by Thomas Wood, the university's Chief Academic Officer and Provost, that asked them to uphold Quest's fundamental principles of honesty, trustworthiness, fairness, and respect. At a dinner on campus following the ceremony, students and their families took the opportunity to mingle with the faculty, donors and others.
Strangway described the convocation, a culmination of 10 years of lobbying and planning, as "wonderful.""It's so terrific to see the students here at last," he said.
Glenn Gravengard, a recent graduate of John Oliver Secondary in Vancouver who wants to eventually become a physiotherapist, said he looked forward to playing on the basketball team and taking part in the courses.
"It's a unique place, very different," he said. "Most universities have five or six courses at once, but since we'll be doing one course at time at Quest it will be more in depth. I can't wait to start next week."
Residences are not yet available for the students owing to the construction boom in British Columbia. As a result, students and teachers left for the Red Mountain Resort in the Kootenays on Thursday (Aug. 30) for their first three-and-a-half-week Cornerstone course entitled Human Beings and Nature: Framing the Question. They will return to Squamish on Sept. 26.
