THUNDER BAY — Lakehead University has received a new international designation.
After a two-year application process, the university received the Innovation and Economic Prosperity program designation from the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, an organization of schools across North America.
Lakehead is the second Canadian university to ever receive the designation.
A plaque recognizing the designation was unveiled Friday morning during an event the the university's Centre for Advanced Studies in Engineering and Sciences building.
"Most importantly [it means] what we plan to do in terms of being more engaged with the communities we work with, as a university, to further economic development over the next five years," said Andrew Dean, the university's vice president of research and innovation.
After conducting a survey of over 300 people at both campuses, Dean spoke of action plans over the next five years for the school.
"One of the things [that] came back with is that they would like to hear more about what the university does do and is engaged in. The second one was increasing opportunities from entrepreneurship and economic engagement through courses through micro-credentials and through stand-alone programming that people," he said.
Dean noted that micro-credentials would be similar to certificates and other "short-term courses and entrepreneurial activities."
The third part of the school's action plan for their continued accreditation is doing more engagement with specific sectors, he said.
"Whether that be the mining sector, whether that be the forestry sector, whether that be the healthcare sector, trying to get more engagement with them," Dean said. "Through workshops or whether that's through mixers or whether it's just making sure that we know what kind of programs are out there, that they can access in terms of that."
The accreditation process took two years to complete, with the school being awarded the appointment for the next five years.
