The world of post-secondary education is a competitive one, according to University of Saskatchewan president Peter MacKinnon.
"In the last 10 to 15 years, we've seen an increasingly competitive world in terms of post-secondary education," he said.
MacKinnon spoke of the need to be proactive in recruiting students at a wine and cheese reception to which alumni and representatives of community organizations were invited Oct. 5 at the Chapel Gallery.
He pointed to the example of the University of Alberta recruiting in Lloydminster and the Battlefords, even giving high school students backpacks and other promotional materials in an attempt to have aspiring students head west rather than east.
"I hope it's not too late to change that," said MacKinnon, who said he's always asking himself what he can do to ensure the university meets the needs of all students, not just those from Saskatoon.
"We need to remember that we're the University of Saskatchewan, not the University of Saskatoon," he said.
The reception was part of the president's tour, which had MacKinnon visiting a number of communities throughout Saskatchewan, touring schools and making presentations.
"It's always great to see some of my former students," he said of the tour.
MacKinnon took the opportunity to point out some of the benefits of attending the U of S, including construction on a new student residence building that will see the university double its residence spaces, expansions to the biomedical wing and a vaccines research building.
He also mentioned the Canadian Feed Research Centre, slated to open in North Battleford in the fall of 2011, as an example of the university's leadership in research, adding the University of Saskatchewan is ranked number 11 out of 100 universities in research funding.
Lead scientist for the project, Bernard Laarveld, said the centre would be one of five of its kind in the world.
"I've been working on the project for pretty well 10 years now," said Laarveld, who is excited to see the centre up and running.
The centre will look at ways to produce high-quality animal feed from low-value crops.
"In Saskatchewan, many people don't realize it, but 25 per cent of our crops end up in livestock feed," said Laarveld.
A research centre could develop ways of improving the quality of livestock feed in order to improve the health of livestock and reduce the need for antibiotics.
Laarveld also explained aquaculture, the farmed fish industry, is becoming more economically significant, as half of the world's fish supply is farmed, primarily in Asia and South America.
"Aquaculture is a really big business in Chile, for example," said Laarveld.
Being able to convert unusable crops or by products of the biofuel and bioprocessing industries into high quality fish food would translate into greater investment in Saskatchewan, according to Laarveld.
The research centre would also provide the opportunity for University of Saskatchewan students to train, attend workshops and conduct research in a state of the art facility.
The research centre is funded through the University of Saskatchewan, the federal and provincial governments and through private and industry donations.
