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McMaster University

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WELCOME!

Welcome to McMaster and to the Office of the President. The University's website provides a wealth of information about the mission and vision of the University, its innovative educational programs, cutting-edge research, and the students, faculty, staff, alumni, friends, and supporters who make up the McMaster community. I was privileged to become a member of this community in July 2010, when I began my term as President and Vice-Chancellor. More

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Principle 1

We are an institution devoted to the cultivation of human potential, which we believe cannot be realized by individuals in isolation from one another, from their history or their imagined future, from the society which surrounds them, or from the physical universe which sustains them. Our programs and activities will reflect this comprehensive view.

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Principle 2

It follows that in defining our strengths and seeking to build on them, we will adopt a multidisciplinary perspective, recognizing that even the most specialized problem requires an appropriately broad-based approach.

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Principle 3

Our future shall be continuous and consistent with our past, expanding upon and fulfilling the historic character of McMaster as an institution. We will foster the distinct identity of this university, while at the same time continuing to recognize the importance of collaboration and dialogue with sister institutions in Ontario, Canada, and abroad.

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Principle 4

Notwithstanding that commitment to continuity with the past and to coordination with practices elsewhere, we will place the highest value on original thought and on innovation.

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Principle 5

To that end, we will not only reaffirm the importance of radical questioning at the heart of the academic enterprise, but we will ensure the integrity of our work by bringing a critical view to all of our practices-those which bear directly upon education and research as well as those less directly related to it.

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Principle 6

Wherever possible, we will reduce or eliminate obstacles to cooperation.

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Principle 7

We will acknowledge, and seek to integrate in all our work and in ways appropriate to our specific fields, an obligation to serve the greater good of our community-locally, nationally, and globally.

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CURRENT PRIORITIES

In September 2011, President Deane issued an open letter entitled Forward with Integrity: A Letter to the McMaster Community. The letter was prepared after a year of consultations and discussions with members of the McMaster community and outlines the priorities that are to be the focus of the University's efforts over the next decade.

The key priorities are the development of a distinct, effective and sustainable undergraduate experience, the enhancement of the connections between McMaster and the community, and the support of continuing excellence in research that informs and integrates with a reconceived educational mission. The priorities are to be viewed and addressed as interconnected and mutually reinforcing areas of activity. The area of internationalization is also to be considered as one aspect of these integrated three priorities.

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Student Experience

The intention is to build on the success of McMaster’s most creative and innovative programs to provide a high-quality education for all students. In order to create an enriching and transformative learning experience, it is proposed that an institution-wide reconsideration of teaching practice and learning assumptions should take place and that, wherever appropriate, programs new and old should integrate elements of experiential learning, self-directed learning, and interdisciplinarity.

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Community Engagement

Community engagement and a commitment to service and to the public good has been a key part of McMaster’s history. The University has demonstrated on many occasions that academic work can be an extraordinary force for the good of human beings, society, and nature; the task for the future is to consolidate and deepen that contribution. In order to achieve this, community engagement must be integrated fully and meaningfully into the work of the academy – into the normal activities of exploration, questioning and synthesizing, and subject to the most rigorous academic values.

Lady looking in microscope

Research

McMaster’s researchers have achieved extraordinary success throughout the history of the University. In reaffirming McMaster’s position as a student-centred research-intensive University, and in focusing on a heightened level of community engagement, the University is also committing to even greater achievements in research. It is intended to support this continuing excellence in research in alignment with the educational mission, with the aim of achieving continuity between the two in terms of academic values and scholarly practice.

Lady looking in microscope

Internationalization

Internationalization should be viewed not as a separate project, but as one aspect of the University’s integrated priorities, with international activities having a coherent and integrated role in the overall mission of the academy. Internationalization of the University by the adoption of an internationalized perspective in curriculum and program design is crucial if the University is to foster global citizenship on its campus and develop an active orientation to the challenges of the world.