Provincial Budget Highlights Skills, Announces Changes to Next SMA
As the pace of technological and societal change continues to increase, an agile workforce will be a critical contributor to Ontario’s continued success. Carleton students will provide the critical thinking, creativity, multidisciplinary approach, and problem solving skills required by Ontario’s economy of today and tomorrow.
In its first budget yesterday, the Progressive Conservative government announced changes to the next iteration of strategic mandate agreements that will more closely tie provincial funding to performance-related outcomes.
“Carleton is committed to working with the government on the next Strategic Mandate Agreement (SMA) process in a spirit of transparency, dialogue and accountability”, said President Benoit-Antoine Bacon. “Like the province we are committed to financial sustainability and as always we are committed to giving our students what they need and deserve, as well as to create and innovate for the benefit of Ontario and the world.”
The next iteration of the SMA will focus on a smaller number of metrics, many of the themes identified are fully in line with Carleton’s values and objectives, notably: experiential learning; skills and competencies; graduate employment; research funding and capacity, including funding from industry; and impact in the local community.
Carleton welcomes capital investments and the creation of an Expert Panel to develop an action plan for intellectual property and increasing commercialization opportunities. We look forward to contributing to the plans to further enhance Ontario’s Autonomous Vehicle Innovation Network (AVIN) and launching a “wintertech” stream to test mobility products.
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