Contents
Search
Division
of University Relations
Home Page
 |
2003 a successful year
 |
| (L-R): John Ottenheimer, President Axel Meisen |
Last week, I met with Minister John Ottenheimer,
the minister responsible for the Department of Youth Services and Post-secondary
Education, and presented him with the President’s Report for
2002-2003. This report, which is in effect our annual report
for the university, is one of most important accountability documents. I
always look forward to the preparation of the report for two reasons:
I am very proud of the university’s achievements and I want to share
them with others.
In addition to informing the minister, we mail the report to community
leaders, including political leaders, in Newfoundland and Labrador as
well as other parts of Canada. We send it also to other universities and
to our donors, alumni and friends. The report is available on the
Web (at www.mun.ca/2003report/)
and I encourage you to see how Memorial university provides value to our
students, province and nation.
This past year has indeed been successful. We increased student enrolment
to 17,200 thereby maintaining our position as Atlantic Canada’s
largest university, our graduate enrolment exceeded 2,000 graduate students
for the first time in our history, we attracted more than $52 million
in research funding and we secured over $33 million in funding for the
Inco Innovation Centre and its operations. We established the first
fully endowed research chair at the university, thanks to a generous donation
by Husky Energy. I am also pleased to report that over 70 per cent of
our graduates stay in the province, a fact not well known.
As the year 2003 draws to a close, I would like to thank you for your
efforts over the past year. The university’s accomplishments are
largely due to the hard work of our faculty, staff and students.
I wish you and your families a happy and safe holiday season and all the
best in the new year.
Axel Meisen
PRESIDENT AND VICE-CHANCELLOR