This week two events hosted by Nova Scotia Come to Life completed the Ontario leg of the Canada’s University Capital campaign tour. The initiative, initially launched in Halifax, aims to market Nova Scotia as "Canada's University Capital" to prospective students and their parents. Both functions attracted enthusiastic crowds and featured celebrity guest speakers

^{University Capital professors from left to right: Christine Igot, Université Saint-Anne; Dr. Meredith Ralston, Mount St. Vincent University; Dr. David MacLachlan, Atlantic School of Theology; Dr. Richard Donald, Nova Scotia Agricultural College; Lindsay Marshall, Cape Breton University; Dr. Elizabeth Edwards, University of Kings College; Dr. Christine Holzer-Hunt, Dean, NSCAD University; Dr. Srini Sampalli, Dalhousie University. Out of frame: Dr. Harish Kapoor , Acadia University.
Photo credit: Len Wagg}

On January 26th alumni from Nova Scotia’s universities, ECC members and other supporters gathered in Ottawa at the National Arts Centre to receive a warm welcome from Verne White, Ottawa’s Chief of Police, as well as representatives from universities across Nova Scotia. White knows about Nova Scotia's university offerings first hand, having graduated with 2 degrees from Acadia University.The Cape Breton native addressed the crowd and explained why he felt positively about the campaign’s message.

"Nova Scotia has the ability and capacity to provide cultural and linguistic diversity to the aspiring learner," said Mr. White. "So as well as engaging with the student as they work toward their education, social work, legal or medical profession, Nova Scotia has also prided itself on growing and expanding the differences we find in Canadian Society."

In Toronto on January 27th, a similarly enthusiastic congregation of alumni, friends and ECC members embraced the campaign’s rallying cry which was led by Université Saint-Anne professor Dr.  Christine Igot. Dr. Igot, who has taught at Nova Scotia’s only French language university for 21 years, says it’s important for Nova Scotia’s universities to promote their programs strategically as a group because it delivers a unified message.

“It allows small universities in NS to get their message out as well”, Dr. Igot said “we have smaller budgets and smaller recruiting and this message treats all universities equally as a collective to get the message out that we’re all in it together to bring students to Nova Scotia. Students bring a lot to [the local] economy. Take Acadia, for example: 34% of Wolfville’s economy is linked to the university.”

Dr. Christine Holzer-Hunt, Dean of NSCAD University, was also part of the delegation and shared her views on how this collaborative effort was able to overcome the recent economic climate and other recruitment challenges.

“Each university has something that no one else has. For example NSCAD has a ratio of 1 professor to 14 students and that will remain a strength no matter what the economic climate is.”

Dr. Igot began the presentations by introducing all the professors of the delegation who appeared on stage to show their support. Kathryn Borel, Toronto-based author and producer of CBC Radio’s Q, was ushered to the stage and began a colourful speech about her time spent at the University of King’s College in Halifax. Aside from the racy anecdotes, Borel offered her thoughts on how her education advanced her professional career.

“King’s and Halifax in general as a city gave us this safe, inspiring and encouraging architecture to forge our own voices, and that’s what King’s gave to me. It gave me the vocabulary to be a real ‘human’ human being. Without it I don’t think I would have nabbed a massively interesting job of working for Q on CBC radio.” 

After a screening of the official campaign video, Ron James, the award winning Nova Scotian actor and comedian, continued with several saucy tales and humourous quips as he recounted his three years at Acadia in the late seventies. Although he did not graduate, James praised a particular professor who made History come alive and said that he tries to add that aspect into every project.

“Nova Scotia provides a grounding,” James said, “it provides a heart-line hum. It provides a soul note that sings forever. I’m sure there’s people form Don Mills who wax nostalgic about the day the new mall came in, but I’d like to argue the fact that the halls and fields of Acadia have more resonance than a new Bata Shoes outlet.”

Igot bookended the presentations with a personal story of her move from Ontario to Church Point NS where she has lived and worked ever since. She also relayed some interesting statistics that support Nova Scotia’s engagement with their universities.

The most startling fact is that 30% of Nova Scotia’s youth are enrolled in universities within the province, the highest participation rate in Canada. As well, over 4,000 international students are also enrolled, not including the 16,000 out of province students.

According to the numbers, the campaign is moving in the right direction. Not only is this because the province needs to attract students, but these universities depend on a healthy student body; their contribution to the economy is estimated to be close to one billion dollars.  

In fact, Nova Scotia has the largest number of universities per capita than any other province. Having these institutions unite under one banner brings together their individual strengths with a common message to parents of kids who are likely to consider an East Coast education.

Universitycapital.ca exposes potential students and their parents to the full effect of the campaign. There, one can access links to explore offerings of each university and a video highlights the benefits of a Nova Scotia university education.

Click here to discover more at universitycapital.ca