The global knowledge economy, fueled by automation and technologies such as AI, is changing the way we work and the skills we need to succeed.
York University graduates globally educated citizens with the transferable skills they need for success in a rapidly changing economy. In this context, York is redefining how to prepare students for success with innovative opportunities for students, showcasing teaching, learning and research excellence.
Since York’s founding in 1959, the university has opened the door to success for hundreds of thousands of students from diverse backgrounds, including young people who are the first in their family to attend university, new Canadians, mature students, and students of all ages from other countries who want a uniquely Canadian post-secondary education experience.
York continues to develop new programs that respond to emerging labor market needs while also growing the number and quality of experiential education opportunities available to its students both locally and internationally.
Experiential education provides students with hands-on learning activities that connect the skills and knowledge acquired in academic programs to the workplace or the community through internships, co-op programs, community-service learning, community-based research activities, clinical placements and more.
York University’s internationally acclaimed Vision: Science to Applications (VISTA) program is one example of a global partnership between five faculties and more than 50 academic, nonprofit and commercial partners. This vision research has important implications for human health and for the technologies that we use. Supported in part by the government of Canada through a C$120 million (US$90.6 million) research grant, VISTA aims to integrate biological and computational vision research to produce technologies that help people live healthier, safer and more productive lives.
Such collaborations and partnerships exemplify York’s approach to local and global engagement geared toward social, economic, cultural and environmental wellbeing. York recently ranked No. 5 in Canada and No. 26 in the world by the inaugural Times Higher Education University Impact Rankings, which set out to measure how global universities contribute to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
York University is committed to expanding access to higher education, ensuring that graduates have the knowledge, skills and experience to realize their full potential for their own benefit and that of the world.
