July 2021: Telling our Story
It’s time we push back against the narrative that students only come to Memorial University for low tuition.
We are a world-class institution. And students come here because they know they will get a world-class education. A survey of undergraduate applicants in 2020 showed that the main reason they applied to Memorial was the programs available, not tuition.
We are an institution to be proud of and it’s time to shout that from the rooftops.
As our new strategic plan, Transforming Our Horizons, states, “Focused on engaging the hearts and minds of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, we will grow awareness of the incredible things happening at Memorial and their direct impacts on the province.”
At nearly 100 years old, Memorial University is one of the top 20 research universities in Canada and has been recognized with numerous awards and honours for our contributions to society. We’ve been awarded a United Nations Climate Solutions Award, two Governor General’s Innovation Awards (in 2018 and in 2019) and we are the only institution to receive the Arctic Inspiration Prize — the Nobel of the North — twice.
Memorial has more than 30 research centres, studying everything from aging to the boreal forest to ice mechanics.
We attracted more than $160 million in research funding last year and have one of the best post-secondary marine/ocean engineering programs in the world.
We offer a number of unique programs in a variety of disciplines, taught by exceptional professors. For example, we offer Canada’s only master of business administration in social enterprise and entrepreneurship degree. The only co-operative education program in ocean and naval architectural engineering in the world is available here.
We’ve got some pretty amazing facilities and learning resources on our five campuses, as well.
The most recent addition is the Core Science Facility — a 480,000-square-foot building designed to look like an iceberg — that will change the face of science and engineering teaching, learning and research at Memorial.
The length of two football fields, the building has three pavilions separated by two tall vertical atria that put "science on display."
It will provide modern research and laboratory teaching spaces.
In just one chemistry laboratory, 1,200 first-year students will be doing hands-on learning each week and conducting experiments that were not possible with the dated laboratories in the old science building.
The facility is a shining beacon that will attract top-quality students and researchers for years to come.
Funding for the project included $100 million from the federal government and $25 million from the provincial government.
A few days ago we hosted a sneak peak of a blue whale skull that will soon be hung with its full skeleton in one of the building's atria.
Did you ever wonder if there is a professional telescope in our province? The answer is, yes, there is — at Grenfell Campus in Corner Brook.
Do you know who Deanne, Tyler and Babette are? They are the resident harp seals at our Ocean Sciences Centre, one of Canada’s largest marine laboratories, at the Atlantic Ocean’s edge in Logy Bay.
Last summer, I had a blast “piloting” a ship through the Narrows of St. John’s harbour in the world’s largest motion-capable ship’s bridge simulator at the Marine Institute.
These are just a few of the outstanding programs and facilities at Memorial. These and hundreds of other reasons are why students and faculty want to come to Memorial to study and work.
So, we need to challenge the misinformation out there. All of us, together, are Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador.
We need to tell our story. Our successes are based on the strength of our people and programs, not on tuition. Don’t let anyone tell you anything different.