newsDetail

myTrent

Showcase


newsDetail

Bookmark and Share

The Making of a University Leader Begins at a Great University

Alumnus Paul Davidson's Desire to Learn Leads to Global Connections

The Making of a University Leader Begins at a Great University
The Making of a University Leader Begins at a Great University

A Showcase Magazine Feature: http://www.trentu.ca/showcase/

Paul Davidson recalls how he came to Trent. “I popped up to Trent to visit my brother and I noticed a little sign saying ‘Trent International Program (TIP) – for information talk to Jack Matthews’. I had heard of Jack because he was the founder of Pearson College in B.C. and so I had a cup of coffee with him. The fact that I could speak to the director that day without an appointment made Trent particularly appealing for me,” explains Paul Davidson, Trent University alumnus and president of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC).

Mr. Davidson was one of the 25 per cent of domestic students who are a part of TIP every year, allowing Canadian students to engage in closer interaction with international students, and to gain international experience. In Mr. Davidson’s case, that meant spending a year abroad in Zimbabwe in 1985.

He returned with a completed B.A. in Politics and History with an Emphasis in Comparative Development. “It was a very innovative proposition at the time,” he recalls. Prior to his year abroad, Mr. Davidson helped reinvigorate Trent’s chapter of World University Service of Canada (WUSC), a national organization that brings students in refugee situations from around the world to study in Canada. “By the fall of 1984, we raised enough funds to bring three students to Trent from refugee situations in Africa,” recounts Mr. Davidson, “and I’m really pleased to say that the Trent committee is continuing to this day as a strong and active member of WUSC.”

A Global Vision for Higher Education

Mr. Davidson’s career led him from Kenya to Queen’s Park, and eventually back to WUSC as executive director from 2002 to 2009. In 2009, Mr. Davidson was appointed president of the Association of Universities and Colleges (AUCC) where his global vision for education met with AUCC’s expanding mandate. “Our work at AUCC puts great emphasis both on advancing higher education in Canada and on the importance of internationalizing Canadian universities,” explains Mr. Davidson. “Canadian universities in the 21st century need to be globally connected.”

Mr. Davidson credits his time at Trent with giving him the skills and the vision to tackle the types of challenges he faces regularly at AUCC. “In Canada, per student funding provided by provincial government is half what it was in 1977,” Mr. Davidson offers by way of example. “So it is more important than ever that alumni, employers and the broader community step forward to help close that gap. I reflect back on the kinds of experiences I had at Trent every day in terms of being able to engage rigorously on tough public policy issues. It’s not the specific knowledge you learn about A, B, or C, that matters most,” asserts Mr. Davidson. “It is the desire to learn, to analyze, to be articulate and to see ourselves as more than simply passive observers or consumers of the world. It’s about becoming a contributor.”

Posted on Monday, April 1, 2013.

Read More News ยป