We just wrapped up our first World Congress in more than 10 years! This year, our annual Connection Conference transformed into a worldwide partnership with the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics (WFCP). Together we explored the meaning of collective intelligence. If you missed it, here’s the who, what, when, where, why, and how in key congress numbers. If you took part, did you leave feeling inspired?
Who participated?
Over the course of the World Congress, more than 1500 delegates joined us in Montreal, including over 500 representatives from more than 25 countries around the world.
What did we do?
We listened to three thought-provoking keynote speakers, each with a unique personal journey: Dr Farah Alibay: Aerospace Engineer at Jet Propulsion Laboratory; Wes Hall: Executive Chairman and Founder Kingsdale Advisors, BlackNorth Initiative, WeShall Investments Inc. and Gerd Leonhard: Futurist, Humanist, Author of “Technology vs. Humanity” and CEO of The Futures Agency. If you missed it, watch Gerd Leonhard’s keynote speech.
We learned from over 100 presenters in more than 50 live sessions in seven streams: Transforming Leadership and Governance; Supporting Teaching, Learning and Student Success; Demonstrating Leadership in Sustainability; Building and maintaining strong Industry Partnerships; Ensuring Safety, Security and Well-being; Advancing Indigenous Education; and Embracing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion. Each stream also included a focus on working together to achieve the SDGs. There were also 40 pre-recorded presentations that participants could explore during the congress, and which will remain available for the next six months.
We explored eight hot topics with the WFCP Affinity Groups: Global Citizenship; Indigenous Education; Applied Research and Innovation; Sustainable Development Goals; Construction; Cyber Data and Security and Social Engineering; Teacher Professional Development; and Branding TVET.
We even held four unique pre-congress activities full of engaging discussions: PIN-WFCP Leadership Summit; International Youth Camp; Futureproofing rural, remote, and northern communities Forum; and Getting to Gender Equality in TVET Panel.
We visited five local campuses to experience their unique features and infrastructure. Thank you to Cégep Marie-Victorin, Cégep de Saint-Laurent, Collège LaSalle, Cégep André-Laurendeau and Dawson College for welcoming Canadian and international delegates.
- We hope you will take what you learned in your sessions and conversations back to your institutions as inspiration to work collectively to address issues and explore innovative solutions for the post-secondary sector.
Who did we recognize?
Twenty-five institutions across six provinces, three programs, 10 individuals and two faculty teams for their outstanding leadership and innovation in 10 Awards of Excellence categories!
- Congratulations to the gold-, silver-, and bronze-level recipients in each category: applied research and innovation, Indigenous education, sustainable development, global engagement, program excellence, equity, diversity and inclusion and leadership excellence for managerial and non-managerial staff, faculty, and students.
- Big thanks to TD Insurance, the exclusive sponsor of the awards, and to the representatives from our member institutions who participated in independent selection committees to review nominations and adjudicate results.
The WFCP recognized their member institutions and individuals’ accomplishments in the global colleges and polytechnics sector with their 41 2023 Awards of Excellence. (Canadian recipients of the WFCP Awards included two individuals and eight colleges and institutes).
We also marked our continued commitment to building a more sustainable and equitable world by signing the World Congress Montreal Declaration, a global statement on sustainability supported by the International Youth Camp representatives, and the WFCP and CICan boards.
- The declaration engages CICan, WFCP and their members to maximize their collective impact on inclusive and equitable education, training that responds to future economic, environmental, and social challenges and Canada’s progress toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals, among other priority areas.
Thank you to our keynote speakers, all presenters, and participants for making the World Congress 2023 a success! View photos from the event.
Next year, our annual conference is coming to Calgary. Stay tuned for news about the 2024 Connection Conference with hosts Bow Valley College and SAIT.