November 2004
ORION seeks nod as critical infrastructure
Ontario should recognize the ORION network as critical new infrastructure that can help support a bold, new vision for the province’s postsecondary system.
That is the main thrust of ORION’s submission to the Bob Rae Postsecondary Review Advisory Panel.
Calling on the Review to include ORION in its report and recommendations, it urges the Panel to recognize that “ORION represents significant new system-wide infrastructure that will make an important contribution to delivering on its vision for Ontario’s 21st Century postsecondary education system.
As a “system-wide tool for communication, collaboration and resource sharing, ORION is necessary inter-institutional infrastructure, as critical to institutions delivering on their education and learning mandate as their on-campus infrastructure,” states the report.
ORION opens up the global research and education community to every college and university faculty member and student in Ontario at their main campus, no matter where located in the province.
Ontario needs to draw upon the collective resources available in all its postsecondary institutions and allied public education facilities, and ORION represents an ideal opportunity to bring them together in a seamless web across Ontario, as “a powerful force driving the innovation economy.”
ORION directly addresses three of the five major challenges outlined in the Postsecondary Review Discussion Paper, namely Accessibility, Quality and System Design.
“Equity of access is a core ORION value”, states the report, noting that the network places every connected instutition on the same footing, while enabling each to further develop its unique strengths.
ORION also helps Ontario make giant strides in the ability to deliver quality higher education by bringing 21st century technology and expertise to Ontario’s post-secondary system, says the report, noting that the network connects Ontario to a vast and growing community of research and education leaders across Canada and around the world, enabling Ontario to be fully engaged at the leading edge of the transformation in the ways we all learn, teach, work and do business.
From a system design perspective, ORION provides a strong foundation on which to implement the next generation of Ontario’s postsecondary education system, says the report, allowing institutions to collaborate with each other and to share and make the best use of limited research and learning resources.
“The network provides clear value in bringing learning resources and technology from across the province and around the world, to any Ontario post-secondary institution, lecture hall or lab.”
The reports calls on the Panel to recognize that a new global research and learning infrastructure is rapidly evolving, and that increasingly, major research initiatives are multi-party, collaborative, reach across borders and multidisciplinary, and are increasingly dependent on a fully integrated global network infrastructure.
The ultimate benefit of advanced networks such as ORION, claims the report, is how they can eliminate regional and national borders and enable a new era of innovation and collaboration between people and institutions in different regions and different countries.
“Excellence has no borders,” says Phil Baker, President/CEO of ORION, who is confident the Panel will take note of the ORION submission.
“Working together, we can maximise the network’s potential as an inter-institutional platform and as a dynamic engine for innovative approaches to research, teaching and learning across Ontario,” he says.
The report can be downloaded at www.orion.on.ca/news/pdf/ORIONRaePanelSubmission.pdf. For more on the Review, visit www.raereview.on.ca.
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