Canada's "G5" universities want to focus more on research mission

News Date: 
Jul 30, 2009
In the second part of a 2-part series in Maclean's, the presidents of Canada's "G5" universities -- McGill, UBC, uMontréal, uAlberta, and uToronto -- discuss what they perceive as drift and lack of direction in the country's higher-education system. Although education is a provincial jurisdiction, the presidents call on Ottawa to pay more attention to what is going on at university campuses. UBC president Stephen Toope observes the one problem is there is no "overall strategy." The 5 universities would like more resources to concentrate on conducting cutting-edge research and training the best and brightest graduate students, while other schools focus on undergraduate education. The presidents are also pushing for what uToronto president David Naylor calls a "first ministers' conference on the innovation economy" to discuss how Canada can do better at putting new ideas to work in the private sector. Maclean's

G5

Submitted by Dawna (not verified) on Thu, 2009-07-30 06:55.
I was a university student for nine years, including a professional degree at one of the "G5", and have worked in the post secondary sector for the last 15 years and I never heard of the G5; is this as in "great" five? If this is the case I could certainly compose a different list of "great' schools in this country; focusing on graduate studies (to the detriment of the tens of thousands of undergraduate students at these schools because undergrad is seen simply as a revenue stream to support the "real" work of the "great" schools) and research does not greatness make; nor does size. Is this a Maclean's moniker or did the G5 Presidents get together and decide they needed to distinguish their institutions from the riffraff?

Who decided on the label G5?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Thu, 2009-07-30 08:48.
Who decided on the label G5? Who decides who's in or out? If it were 'G10' which other universities would be included?

G5 label

Submitted by katherine on Thu, 2009-07-30 09:16.
The "G5" moniker was referenced in Maclean's in the following sentence from the first part of the series: "At their best, Canada's largest universities -- call them 'G5' as they sometimes refer to themselves in private -- have shown a dedications to quality, not just quantity."

This is ridiculous and

Submitted by Alexandra (not verified) on Thu, 2009-07-30 09:16.
This is ridiculous and essentially implies that every other university should act as a feeder institution for one of these "G5". This is not the way to promote common interest and strategy among post-secondary institutions in our country.

g5?

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 2009-10-27 20:38.
Maclean's is not trust-worthy; this magazine is owned (in a different way under the table) by one of the so-called G5. Ignore what Maclean's says.