Dingwall to Punjab, India: Send More Students!

President David Dingwall was in India this week. Photos from the trip are up on the CBU site.

President Dingwall, second from right (CBU)

While there, President Dingwall made an appearance on Daily Ajit, a Punjabi news show. He discussed the international experience at CBU, and in particular the nature of students from the Punjab region of India. Dingwall defended the lack of part-time jobs available to students at the university; something we heard is a concern for Indian students and became a students’ union election issue last week.

The following is an excerpt from that interview:

Interviewer: “When it comes to the employment opportunities, be it self-employment, be it government jobs, be it the private sector jobs. Which course of these do you find is the most suitable for students which are from India or Punjab?”

Dingwall: “Well I’m going to stop you dead—The focus at our university is not to have a job while you are attending university. The focus of our university is to be certain that the student will be successful at his or her academic studies, but most importantly when they go into the job market. We want to be certain that their academic achievement is first-class.”

“Memorization is important, but what is more important than memorization is to have a clear understanding so that you can develop critical thinking skills, an ability to communicate orally and in writing so that our graduates become problem-solvers, and with that kind of a background the potential for jobs and job creation just multiplies whether it be in the private sector, the government sector, the non-profit sector, or indeed the community sector.”

“I tell students, don’t come to CBU if you’re going to be looking for a part-time job or you want to be partying all the time… But you want to come to CBU to get a good quality education– because that’s the foundation that you need in order to be successful.”

“I often tell the students, we’re a university, not a spa, you have to work hard.”— Pres. Dingwall

At the end of the interview, president Dingwall had some really nice things to say about Punjabi students and made a plea to the region: “Send more of your students to Cape Breton University! We like them and we like them very dearly.”

We sent a request for more info about the trip Friday morning, but didn’t hear back before the end of the day.