Yukon University applies to join peak universities body

Yukon University is looking to join an organisation that represents just about all universities in Canada, in hopes of gaining some status and acceptance in the academic world, and in many ways, a badge of legitimacy, writes Cheryl Kawaja for CBC News.

The Whitehorse-based institution wants to join the ranks of Universities Canada, an association that bills itself as “the voice of Canadian universities”. Yukon University is not part of the club – at least not yet – but it submitted an application to join this fall. Whether it will be accepted remains to be seen.

The Yukon Government created legislation to allow Yukon College to become a university in 2020. For school officials, becoming a member of Universities Canada is one of the next steps in becoming a more mature institution. “I’m really interested in seeing what happens here,” said Glen Jones, professor of higher education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. “Universities Canada has become the kind of national club. It’s the club that you want to become a member of, partly so that you have recognition from your peers and partly because I think it also provides some broader international recognition.”
Full report on the CBC News site