Centennial College consistently ranks as one of the Top 50 Research Colleges in Canada, and this year, we’ve once again been recognized by Research Infosource. Notably, Centennial ranks number one for providing paid student internships in applied research, and 20th overall for research revenue. When it comes to those paid student internships in applied research, we engaged 599 student researchers through our Applied Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship department, Centennial Innovates. This team leads all of the College’s applied research activity, and is responsible for putting us in that number one spot for four years running.
"These results are an accomplishment of a stellar performance by a very capable team," says Jonathan Hack, Dean of Centennial Innovates. "I couldn’t be more proud of all our innovation leaders, who go above and beyond in everything they do. Over the past couple of years, we’ve grown our research activity significantly to include data analytics, sustainable energy systems, low-carbon transportation and smart mobility, while continuing to expand our established strengths in digital healthcare technologies, social innovation research, aerospace and advanced manufacturing."
At Centennial Innovates, student researchers develop valuable technical and professional skills by working alongside industry partners to solve real-life business challenges. And because the internships are paid, students can focus on building their skills and expertise without a financial burden as a barrier. Students complete their internships with an innovation mindset, and gain a competitive edge when it comes to the job market. In fact, student researchers from Centennial Innovates have an extremely high success rate when it comes to getting hired, and their largest applied research centre, the Wearable, Interactive and Mobile Technology Access Centre in Health (WIMTACH), even boasts a 100 per cent graduate employment rate.
"Students lie at the heart of every single applied research project," Hack adds. "One of our main goals within our research activity is to train students and give them the opportunity to work directly with industry partners to develop the skills, innovation mindset, and networks to succeed in their careers once they graduate. Student engagement and empowerment is one of our top priorities, and we are extremely proud to provide more paid internships to our students than any other college in Canada."
This reflects the college’s commitment to giving students experiential learning, to set them up for future career success, as is the fact that research projects are conducted with an eye towards sustainability.
"We map our entire innovation portfolio to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)," Hack explains, "A mindset of sustainable innovation is intentionally fostered within our applied research and entrepreneurship activity. We believe that having a perspective of sustainability is absolutely critical for future career success."
Research Infosource Inc. is a leading source of ranking data on research universities, colleges, corporations and hospitals that are used by the research and innovation community, and you can read more about this year’s top research colleges here. Meanwhile, Centennial College is looking forward to continuing to deliver high-quality and sustainable innovation to industry and community partners in the coming years.