A list of the top 50 research colleges in Canada in 2020 has pegged Selkirk College at No. 39, second highest in the province behind the BC Institute of Technology.

“It’s exciting to be around the talent that we have at Selkirk College amongst both students and faculty,” Dr. Terri MacDonald, the director of applied research and innovation, said in a news release.

“When you compare across the sector and the country, there are not too many teams in rural settings like ours that have been able to build capacity and collaboration to the level we have achieved.”

The research department, known as Selkirk Innovates, has grown substantially over the last four years.

The annual operating budget has increased from $1 million in 2016 to $3.9 million today. More than 100 faculty and students have worked on 97 different research and innovation projects in the last year. MacDonald says those sorts of things are what the compilers of the list looked at when creating the rankings.

Selkirk moved up from No. 49 on the 2019 list. MacDonald says they expected to be even higher on next year’s rankings.

In 2006, Selkirk became home to the provincially-funded BC regional innovation chair in rural economic development. MacDonald has held the position since 2011. 

Now under the umbrella of Selkirk Innovates, the work includes projects being undertaken by the Columbia Basin Rural Development Institute, Selkirk Geospatial Research Centre, the Applied Research and Innovation Centre, the BC Regional Innovation Chair, and the Selkirk Technology Access Centre.

“We are critical to the competitiveness of the companies in the region, and the resiliency of local government and economic development agencies that are trying to ensure that we as a region not only survive but thrive,” MacDonald said.