Alumni celebrate Concordia research
An ad campaign in support of university research at Concordia will soon be published in two of Quebec’s most influential French media outlets.
Sponsored by the Concordia University Alumni Association (CUAA), the ads will appear over the coming days in the front sections of the La Presse newspaper and the business weekly Les Affaires.
The campaign will be published as a run-up to the Quebec Summit on Higher Education, to be held in Montreal on February 25 and 26. The CUAA ads will build on the university’s Big Thinking, Small Planet reputational campaign.
Messaging will highlight breakthroughs made by students and professors from Concordia’s four Faculties.
The campaign headline will read: “The advantages of research at Concordia? They are obvious to the 46,000 students who benefit from an environment rich in discoveries.”
Philippe Pourreaux, president of the CUAA, says the ads are designed to reinforce the positive impact of Concordia research on education and society.
“As Quebec society continues its debate over tuition and university funding, there have been proposals to create a two-tier higher education system that would penalize comprehensive universities in favour of research-intensive institutions,” he says. “Some proposals put forward could transform our current education system to the detriment of Concordia’s long-term success as a top comprehensive university.”
The CUAA ad campaign aims to move the education debate in a positive new direction. “Given what’s at stake, the CUAA is extending its support for Concordia beyond our regular engagement in student and alumni programming, bursaries and academic scholarships,” Pourreaux says. “Although we won’t directly engage on public policy, since that is not our role, the CUAA will continue to ensure that Concordia is perceived as a thriving institution of higher learning whose students, professors and alumni make significant contributions to the world.”
The CUAA ad campaign will focus on French media only, since Concordia has addressed the importance of research to higher education in such English media as the Gazette and the Globe and Mail.
“We are grateful the Concordia University Alumni Association has stepped forward to reinforce in French advertisements how research is critical to modern thinking and higher education,” says Concordia President Alan Shepard. “A strong university relies on a solid reputation for teaching and discovery. These ads will reinforce public perceptions that teaching, learning and research are bedrocks of 21st-century universities.”
Pourreaux is optimistic the CUAA campaign can be leveraged by the entire Concordia community. “We believe CUAA-sponsored ads will be instrumental in highlighting Concordia achievements that may get lost in the noise surrounding the current debate,” he says. “With more than 46,000 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 170,000 alumni speaking through one voice, we can anchor an increasingly positive perception of our university among influencers, leaders and decision makers.”
The half-page ads will appear in La Presse, in black and white, on February 21, 22 and 23. The same ads, in banner format, will be published on lapresse.ca from February 21 to 24.
In Les Affaires, the ad appears in the February 21 edition and will be reprised on lesaffaires.com until March 4.
According to a recent readership survey by NADbank, otherwise known as the Newspaper Audience Databank, La Presse is read by an average 395,000 people on weekdays and 567,000 people on Saturdays. NADbank estimates Les Affaires is read by some 248,000 people each week.
Related links:
• Concordia University Alumni Association
• Quebec Summit on Higher Education
• “Two-tier university education isn’t the answer” — The Gazette, January 12, 2013
• “Let’s look at Quebec tuition fees — and create opportunities for all” — The Globe and Mail, February 13, 2013
• NADbank
• La Presse
• Les Affaires