Selkirk College has moved up four notches in the latest rankings of Canada’s top research colleges.
Research Infosource Inc., which produces the annual report, had Selkirk in 29th place, up from 33rd the previous year and 39th the year before that.
The college says its research and innovation arm received $3.7 million in government and private sector funding in the fiscal year ending March 2021.
It was also ranked fifth in the country for “research intensity,” meaning the relatively small team of researchers were responsible for a high level of output. Selkirk College also ranked second in paid student internships for institutions with operating budgets under $75 million and second for securing a high proportion of federal research funding.
“Getting to this point has been a lot of hard work, but Selkirk Innovates is now firmly established as a go-to research destination for both government and private industry,” Dr. Terri MacDonald, the director of applied research and innovation said in a news release.
“We have an experienced team in place, a long list of tangible outcomes and variety of college programs that ensure we are able to bring in enthusiastic students who are eager to problem solve. Being on the list of top colleges from across the nation helps illustrate the trust our partners have in what can be accomplished by this team.”
During the period of reporting, Selkirk Innovates had 81 research partnerships that included all three levels of government, not-for-profit organizations and a mix of private industry clients.
In the one-year period, the research team completed 92 projects and were involved in 36 ongoing projects. Some of these projects included rural homelessness and COVID-19, community-based resilience planning, local government climate change adaptation, COVID-19 and digital technology response support for small companies, forestry and hydrological recovery, and rapid prototyping.