President Fraser takes stock of 1998

If there's one thing President Rod Fraser has little patience for, it's an "overzealous attention to bureaucratic detail." He considers bean counting a waste of time, and has encouraged graduating students to nurture a similar disdain.

Paraphrasing George Bernard Shaw, Fraser says "There are so many people who can give you the thousand and one reasons for why things are the way they are. What we need more of are those who dream of a better way of doing things and say, 'Why not?'"

Perhaps that's why he places so much emphasis on the international scene, on embracing the concept of global citizenship. After all, this is a president who spends more time travelling than any of his predecessors, and whether or not one agrees with that approach, Fraser himself is clearly devoted to his vision of progress.

Last October he took a whirlwind tour of Mexico and South America (including Brazil, Argentina and Chile), determined to raise the university's profile in countries looking beyond their own borders for higher learning. Many universities, he says, are under huge pressure to upgrade their faculty to the PhD or at least master's level - a gold mine for student recruitment.

"What we are seeing is quite an opportunity for the University of Alberta to be seen as one recommended for receiving such students," he says.

One cultural trend that struck him on his travels to the Third World was the prevalent belief, even among 10- and 11-year-olds, that they would be left behind if they didn't know English and own a laptop by the year 2000. Given that widespread sensitivity to the global community, what better opportunity to raise the U of A banner?

"We have a particularly good group of people involved in teaching English as a second language, and especially teaching teachers of ESL."

Closer to home, Fraser says he'd like the legacy of last month's human rights conference to be lasting and real, changing practices in local communities. He was particularly impressed, he says, with Archbishop Desmond Tutu's belief in truth and reconciliation as the most effective strategy for countries working through histories of oppression and says Canadians can learn from it.

"It seemed to me it's basically throwing out a challenge to scholars to help think through the different options and help choose the paths that are the right ones to take," he says. The formation of a think tank or research institute devoted to human-rights issues might be one concrete measure to meet this challenge, he says.

But first and foremost, he feels it's up to the university to build stronger ties with neglected or forgotten communities, to take a larger role in ensuring that disadvantaged children in our society receive adequate attention in their formative years.

"The question is how best to work with the city of Edmonton, or with different non-profit agencies, and how best to take some of the research results of jurisdictions around the world and help share that experience in our own community.and we have to start doing a substantially better job with some of our Aboriginal communities."

Looking back over the past year, however, Fraser says the three most significant accomplishments of the university have been the success of the fund-raising campaign (which this month hit the five-year target of $144.65 almost two years ahead of schedule), the high rate in the transfer of technology research to industry, and the improved ranking (third) in the reputation category of Maclean's annual survey of universities.

"We are indeed beginning to succeed in sharing the University of Alberta story," he says.

At the top of the president's list of priorities for the new year is the completion of the Administrative Systems Review project - the introduction of new software systems for university record keeping-and plugging the brain drain through the successful renewal and retention of faculty.

But perhaps most pressing is the need to raise the university's profile in the province. While "we've been doing a lot of things to make our lot better," he says, it's now time to convince Alberta taxpayers to support the university as public funding becomes increasingly scarce.

"When somebody mentions the University of Alberta, the response [across the province] should be, `That's my university.'"

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