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I write this on the day following the 2026 Â鶹¹ÙÍø’s Alumni Association Gala, held at a lively and congenial venue on Â鶹¹ÙÍø Street West in Toronto. It was as always a very special occasion, attracting longstanding as well as very recent alumni, and culminating in the presentation of an array of awards recognizing specific contributions in volunteerism, student leadership, global citizenship, equity, diversity, inclusion and Indigenization, as well as distinguished achievement more generally.

As if anticipating the arrival of spring, the Government of Ontario announced in February a package of investments in post-secondary education that seemed to bring the sector back to life. The resilience of Ontario’s universities – their ability to provide an outstanding education and to lead the country in research, despite being funded on a per-student basis at the lowest level of any province in Confederation – has frequently and appropriately been remarked upon.

Chancellor, distinguished colleagues, friends and family, graduands:

It is my pleasure to be with you here today as you celebrate the successful conclusion of your studies. For some of you, today promises an absolute and final liberation from the demands of formal study, whereas for others—such as those going on to graduate study—it provides a sort of breather in which you can collect your energies and confirm your intentions before plunging back into the life of formal learning. 

A new resource from the Centre for Teaching and Learning (CTL) is helping instructors bring global challenges into the classroom by embedding the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into course design. These 17 goals offer a shared framework for addressing urgent issues, from poverty to climate change, while fostering a more inclusive and sustainable future.

A team of four Â鶹¹ÙÍø’s students won the third annual Â鶹¹ÙÍø Engineering Sustainable Solutions & Technologies Competition (QUESST) with a solution addressing the issue of water waste produced by AI data centres. Their achievement highlights the competition’s growing role in equipping students to address complex global challenges. Since launching in 2023, QUESST has grown rapidly, with the most recent conference drawing nearly 70 students, almost double the participation of its in

Â鶹¹ÙÍø’s was very well represented at the Conference of the Magna Charta Universitatum, held in England at King’s College London last November. The annual event, which in recent years has taken place in centres as far apart as Washington, D.C., and Lodz, Poland, commemorates the 1988 signing in Bologna, Italy, of the , a declaration and affirmation of the fundamental principles upon which the mission of universities should be based.