Athabasca University (AU) held its annual Community Breakfast last Tuesday to acknowledge and thank the businesses and citizens of the community who have supported the institution over the past year.
At the event at the Athabasca Regional Multiplex, AU president Dr. Frits Pannekoek said he is thankful for all the support the university has received from the community.
“Athabasca University is at the centre of the province and has over 40,000 students world-wide, which is one of the largest student populations of any university in Canada. This is not only an amazing act but also impressive for a community of this size,” Pannekoek said.
“The Town of Athabasca itself may be small in numbers but it dreams big, and so does AU. AU is at the centre of research in Canada and the people in the region are excellent and have helped our university grow to be one of the best open universities in the world. We recently received two research chairs of Canada and won the 2012 Innovators Award, but we couldn’t do any of that without the support of the community and this great region.”
Representing both the region and the government, Member of the Legislative Assembly for Athabasca-Sturgeon-Redwater and Minister of Education Jeff Johnson said he is proud to have the university in the community.
“This is always a good event and AU is fundamental to the whole region, and ultimately the province,” Johnson explained.
“The success of the region is tied to the success of the big employers and AU is one of them. AU is all about access and a sense of breaking down barriers because not everyone can attend the traditional brick-and-mortar system of schools. Delivering education to everyone helps to increase the quality of life for those people and their communities. AU breaks down barriers and changes lives and changes families. It’s not just the life of one person but their entire family and generations to come, because 70 per cent of AU graduates are the first in their family to get a degree.”
As a special guest to the event, Deputy Premier Thomas Lukaszuk said that having a university of this size and calibre is rare in such a small community, but it’s a prominent asset and has the ability to train the young minds of tomorrow with skills that are needed for the future.
“Athabasca University has the unique ability to influence and educate the minds of both young Albertans and foreigners, which helps to influence the perception people have of Alberta,” Lukaszuk said.
“It’s important in today’s global economy for other countries to understand where we are coming from and what our goals are for the province and the country.”
Lukaszuk said he was pleased to have the opportunity to visit AU and interact with the members of Minister Johnson’s riding.
“It’s always important to get out as often as possible into the communities,” Lukaszuk said. “It’s a balancing approach that we have to take to support industries that have the potential to grow and act as a liaison in opening up additional markets and breaking down barriers, which is something that Athabasca University does very well, and it’s always important to support educational institutions.”
