Universities are often called upon to articulate their social and economic impact on the community, the province, and the country. While it is an enormous undertaking to inventory the quantitative and qualitative impact that a university has on the social fabric and economic vitality of a region, such an exercise can provide an important picture of the breadth and depth of universities' contributions to life in Canada .
In 2008, the University of Toronto developed a comprehensive summary of the many ways the university contributes to Canada , Ontario , and the Toronto region. U of T looked at a broad range of measures that spanned the traditional and the more intangible measures, including: the production of human capital; the applications and spin-off companies related to university-generated research; the link between higher education levels and provincial productivity and GDP; the contribution of urban greenspace; notable graduates in the arts, culture and global social justice; and providing opportunities for new Canadians. This paper also highlighted the important contributions of the university's continuing education programs.
This presentation will provide an overview of the methodology and key findings of U of T's social and economic impact study, and explore ways in which universities and university continuing education programs can use these types of reports to better communicate the important contributions of post-secondary institutions to the local, provincial, and national communities.
Click here for a PDF of Amanda's presentation.
