George Brown college ranked third among 50 Canadian research colleges with a total of $9.3 million in research income
George Brown College ranked third among Canada’s 50 leading research colleges
Photo: St. James campus. Courtesy of George Brown College
George Brown College (GBC) ranks third among 50 leading research colleges in Canada. With $9.3 million in research income in 2013, in an annual report published by Research Infosource Inc. on research and development at Canadian post-secondary institutions.
A total of $152.8 million in research income was recorded in the 2013 fiscal year among the 50 research colleges in Canada, showing an increase of 30.8 per cent following a 30.7 per cent increase in 2012; institutions in Ontario made up 31.5 per cent of the national total of funding in 2013.
“We’re always putting in new funding applications in areas where we either want to grow or expand. Just eight years ago, when the research office opened, George Brown College didn’t have any research capacity, nor did most colleges across the country, mostly due to lack of funding,” said Jillian Butler, communications co-ordinator and writer for the research and innovation department at GBC. “In the years since, we’ve attracted over $26 million in funding and completed almost 220 projects involving almost 4,000 students.”
With 101 partnerships and 91 completed projects, George Brown ranked second in the top large research colleges by number of partnerships and projects.
Research done at GBC allows for engagement between industry professionals, faculty and students, and gives students the opportunity to become better trained and workforce ready.
According to Butler, last year almost 2,000 students were involved in research projects, and that any student enrolled at GBC can gain valuable skills to help them get that post-graduation job through applied research
“Many hardworking student researchers have been hired on post-projects by our industry partners,” said Butler, who encourages students who are interested in working with applied research, to ask their teachers and professors as they may already be involved.
Using research, consulting and using other tools learned at GBC, Lorraine Lower, a graduate of the business administration program at GBC, says “being employed in a startup business project at the college was an amazing learning experience with real life business,” and now feels much more prepared, knowledgeable, and confident about entering the workforce.
“It was really beneficial. I also had a professor that recruited me for the part, and I worked along side with him for support and additional business knowledge,” said Lower.
Giving industry partners access to many incredible potential employees, Butler says, “there have been many students who are actually hired on by their partners to continue the work they did as researchers.”
Not only is this a great method to interview for a job, Butler says students also get to show off what they’ve learned and what they are able to do.
