Message from the president: 'It's been a standout year for Concordia'

Dear Concordians,

2018 has been a standout year for our 50,000 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, and global network of more than 215,000 alumni.

As we look forward to the holiday season and 2019, I wanted to share a few highlights from the past six months:

• We continue to climb in university rankings of all types. According to QS:
  • 15 of our subject areas are world class
  • We have the world’s 115th most international student body
  • We are Canada’s top university under 50 – for the third year in a row.
• Concordia received record research funding – $53.1 million, up 4.5% from last year. Maclean’s ranked us the top Canadian comprehensive university for SSHRC grants. And we signed a new agreement with Mitacs that increases international research opportunities for students.
• We were named a Top Montreal Employer for the third year running.
• We had another great turnout at our October Open House – some 6,000 visitors representing more than 25 countries.
• We saw more than 1,840 jubilant Concordians celebrate their transition from students to alumni at our November convocations.
• We made history by renaming the Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science, Canada’s first such faculty bearing a woman’s name, after our illustrious alumna, who made a landmark $15 M gift.
• We made significant progress on our Digital Strategy.

All this positive news has generated a strong Stinger buzz – with demonstrable results:

• For the third year in a row, Concordia had record applications and enrolment.
• We’ve raised more than $160 M of our $250 M goal in the first year of our most ambitious fundraising effort ever – The Campaign for Concordia: Next-Gen. Now.

I hope you’ll all take pride in these impressive accomplishments.

I wish you a restful winter break and a Happy 2019.

Alan Shepard
President