“It has for a long time been my dream to capitalize on the virtue of the Royal Roads University (RRU) and transform the City of Colwood into a University City instead of just saying that we have a university in the City.” Les Bjola, a successful real estate developer with a billion dollar project, the Colwood City Centre, located next door to the RRU campus, defined his vision for the City to a small group of people in Colwood. It didn’t take too long for Nancy Wilkins, Executive-in-Residence, at the RRU to visualize a small aspect of Bjola’s vision which portrays a beautiful pedestrian boulevard between RRU and the Colwood City Centre – lights, landscaping, biking, walking and taking advantage of the planned transportation hub and connecting students to the community and vice versa.

Bjola further cited that he is prepared to build sustainable buildings, commercial as well residential, on his site, dedicating each building to a different carbon neutral and energy efficient technologies – the nuclear energy and renewable energy technologies. The premise of the vision is to allow RRU to use those buildings as a laboratory primarily to develop the expertise on the building efficiency technologies and the associated disciplines and then share that expertise with their students to teach them how to build buildings that are not just sustainable but they are also cost-effective. He appears to be convinced that this approach will derive the economic, social, and environmental benefits that stipulated in the Official Community Plan (OCP) of the City.

Bjola’s offer is similar to the successful model that US Department of Energy (DOE) uses for getting universities involved in conducting research and evaluating building technologies. Here is an example:

• The Environmental Energy Technology Division (EETD) is one of 17 research divisions at Berkeley Lab, a Department of Energy-sponsored national lab operated by the University of California.
  

Researchers in the EETD at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) have supported the Department of Energy’s Building Technologies program for more than 30 years, leveraging the resources of Berkeley Lab, the UC Berkeley campus, and numerous private and public sector partners and sponsors in support of the Department of Energy (DOE) building energy efficiency mission. To assist the DOE Commercial Buildings Initiative, Berkeley Lab performs a broad range of multidisciplinary research, development, demonstration, and deployment activities on advanced energy technologies and building systems, improved design tools and operating practices, high-quality indoor environments, and mechanisms for more effective policy, finance, and other innovative market transformation activities. All of this work furthers DOE’s Zero Energy Buildings vision.

Typically, the focus of these efforts is on Advanced Building Technologies and Systems; Indoor Environmental Quality; Building Operations; and Tools, Guides, and Standards.

Here is the result of a quick analysis that illustrates the major difference between the DOE model and Bjola’s vision. The DOE model uses the findings of the efforts invested in the laboratories to articulate polices for building sustainable buildings in the United States and provides tools and techniques including the standards to help follow those policies. Whereas Bjola’s vision, in addition to offering similar facilities and opportunities for the Canadian Federal government by creating a public-private partnership model, it also promotes the idea of RRU attracting students from all over the world to share the tricks of the trade for building sustainable buildings on conventional budgets. This is indeed a unique strategic approach to creating a win-win situation.

The concept of a university city has been around for a long time. A university city in Europe is symbolic to having an old university often founded before, or in some cases shortly after, the industrial revolution. The economy of the city is closely related with the university activity and highly supported by the entire university structure, which may include university hospitals and clinics, university printing houses, libraries, laboratories, business incubators, student rooms, dining halls, students’ unions, student societies, and academic festivities. Many European university cities have not been merely important places of scientific and educational endeavour, but also centers of political, cultural and social influence to its respective society throughout the centuries. Examples of these cities include Oxford, Cambridge, St Andrews, Krakow, Leiden, Bologna, Coimbra, and Salamanca, to mention just a few.

Initially, the focus was to establishing a town to support the university population and then it evolved to establishing university to cater the educational needs of the residents. Consequently, there are examples where universities served as the impetus for the growth of certain towns and cities around the world and at the same time, there are examples around the world where universities were built in urban areas to take advantage of the population density with the focus to serve growing number of students. In either case, what is critical is that the town is capable of providing much needed and crucial infrastructure to support the university such as schools, dormitories, transportation, and recreational facilities in order to promote the town or city as an intellectual attraction and make its programs and its teaching philosophies attractive to scholars and educators.

A typical definition – a university town is a community, as small as a neighbourhood is or as large as a mid-sized city which is dominated by its university population. Regardless of the size of the institution, it pervades economic and social life. University towns and cities have impact on all aspects of municipal life, including:

• Demographic Impact: In a university city, a large percentage of the municipality’s population would be students attending one or more colleges and universities, as well as the academic and support staffs of those institutions. This population would be highly educated, transient in nature, and young;
  
• Economic Impact: In a university city, significant portions of the municipality’s economic activities either directly or indirectly are related to the colleges and universities. Students, faculty and staff, and the institutions themselves are all among the largest consumers of goods and services. Many businesses cater almost entirely to college students;
  
• Social Impact: The presence of one or more institutions of higher learning can provide a relatively small community with many arts, cultural, and educational opportunities that are usually found only in larger municipalities. Many offerings of the colleges and universities, as well as businesses that cater to those colleges and universities provide a large portion of communities’ options for arts and entertainment. This extends to major sporting attractions; and
  
• Political Impact: In addition to having, more to do than is typical of other towns and small cities; university towns and cities tend to have a youth and vibrancy the colours political life as well. University towns and cities tend to be politically more liberal and tend to be more inclined to embrace new trends, and ideas.
  

Here is a brief background on the City and the University:

• The City of Colwood: Although only incorporated in 1985, Colwood has a rich heritage dating back to the 18th century and is proud of its many historic landmarks, such as:
  
  • National Historic Site of Hatley Castle complete with hundreds of acres of old growth forests;
    
  • Edwardian Gardens;
    
  • Esquimalt Lagoon with over 2km of sandy beach also breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean;
    
  • The Olympic Mountains;
    
  • National Historic sites of Fort Rodd Hill;
    
  • Fisgard Lighthouse, and
    
  • The Galloping Goose Trail.
    

Today, Colwood is one of the most rapidly growing municipalities in the greater Victoria area, with a variety of recreational opportunities and facilities including three golf courses.

Colwood is located approximately 1o kilometres (6 Miles) west of downtown Victoria, capital of British Columbia, Canada. The City has a population of approximately 15,000 with a land area of 1,739 hectares (4,297 acres) plus 324 hectares (800 acres) of foreshore and land covered by water. Colwood residents enjoy higher average salaries and higher household income than rest of Greater Victoria and the province.

• Royal Roads University (RRU): Royal Roads Military College was established in 1968. On 25 June 1975, the Royal Roads Military College Degree Act was passed allowing the granting of degrees. The first class graduated in May of 1977. The first class of postgraduate students graduated in the fall of 1989. Royal Roads Military College was converted into Royal Roads University in 1995.
  

RRU offers applied and professional programs at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Programs are delivered in the following three formats:

• On-site with 100 percent face-to-face learning;
  
• Blended, with part of the program taught in a face-to-face residency and the balance online; and
  
• Completely online.
  

Residencies based programs range from one to three weeks, and are often held on-campus, but select programs host their residences in unique locations around the world. Current number of students: 2,772; and Faculty: 400 Full Time and 400 Associates. The total number of employees for RRU is …

Here are two main attributes of a university city:

• Student Population:
  

  Contrary to the popular belief that student population must dominate the population of the city to qualify to be a university city, there are university cites like Århus, Denmark, where approximately twenty percent of the 300,000 residents are students. Just over 180 km (110 miles) from Copenhagen, Arhus is located on the east coast of Denmark’s mainland, is the beautiful coastal city. Though the university is relatively new, founded only in 1928, it has established a significant presence in the city.
  

   

  Here are some more university cities where the student population is not dominating the population of the respective university cities:
  

  • Siena, Italy:
    

    With 20,000 students among a total population of just over 56,000 (Which represents only a 36 percent of the city population), this very small city in Tuscany is full of students. The University of Siena (UNISI) is home to slightly under 1000 international students. Siena’s town center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and parts of the university are located within that area;
    

  • Salamanca, Spain:
    

    The University of Salamanca boasts about 36,000 students, among a city population of over 155,000 (Which represents only a 23 percent of the city population). Approximately a tenth of the student population is international. The university was established in 1218 and has long been an integral part of the city. Like the University of Siena, some of the older buildings in the city are a part of the University of Salamanca;
    

  • Tübingen, Germany:
    

    The University of Tübingen, established 1477, is one of the oldest universities in Germany, and the school is an integral part of the town. Situated on the Neckar River in the southwestern state of Baden-Württemburg, Tübingen is a picturesque city with a population of 80,000, 20,000 (Which represents only a 25 percent of the city population) of whom are students. Like in Salamanca, over ten percent of the student body is international; and
    

  • Dijon, France:
    

    Dijon, a picturesque city in the eastern part of France with a population 150,000, is home to the University of Burgundy. 27,000 students (Which represents only an 18 percent of the city population) attend the university, but there are other post-secondary schools in the town that contribute to the high percentage of students among the total population.
    

In view of the examples presented above where the population of the cities is not dominated by the student population, accordingly, the City of Colwood with almost 20 percent of the student population (City population 15,000 and RRU student population 2,772) should be able to meet the population requirements for qualifying to be a university city.

As far as Bjola’s approach to the transformation of Colwood into a university city is concerned, it has incredible potential for attracting national and international students but because of the strategic nature of the approach, it may take years to contribute to the student population in Colwood. In the meanwhile, the good news is that RRU and Dwight International School (DIS) have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to create an innovative transfer agreement for students enrolled in tourism and hospitality programs in China. The agreement allows eligible international students to complete their degrees at the RRU campus. Furthermore, DIS will begin offering the world-renowned IB Diploma Programme to both Canadian and International students in September 2010. This makes Dwight the first boarding school in Western Canada to offer the IB Diploma along with an approved Canadian course of study leading to university entrance. The rumour has that RRU will provide classroom facilities to DIS students at their campus and DIS is looking for building a dormitory close to the RRU campus with the plan to provide housing for up to 3,000 students. This will definitely boost the percentage of student population in Colwood.

• Municipal Infrastructure:
  

The Mayor of Colwood, Mr. David Saunders, confirmed that Colwood has the following facilities to offer to a university city:

• It has constant and ample water supply needed by business, education and residential;
  
• It has adequate health and emergency facilities and services for the protection of the people’s health;
  
• In terms of utilities and amenities, the city also has a stable power supply provided by BC Hydro;
  
• The City’s liveability in terms of peace and order is confirmed by its high crime solution efficiency rate which is verified from the results of the recent surveys;
  
• It has efficient and more than sufficient number of transportation modes and the BC Transit has recently identified Colwood Corners as one of the corridors for rapid transit;
  
• The road system in Colwood is adequate compared to other municipalities;
  
• Telephone services are provided primarily by TELUS and Shaw Cable while cellular phone services are available thru TELUS, FIDO, Rogers, and Bell;
  
• The City is in the process of issuing a RFEI to establish a municipal utility for providing the wastewater treatment, resource recovery, and fiber optic communication services to the residents;
  
• The City is working on the One Stop Shop concept with the objective to expedite the approval and issuance of permits and licenses;
  
• The City has its website and uses Electronic Billboards extensively to publicize major decisions including the annual budgets;
  
• The City is in the process of planning to publish newsletter on a regular basis; and
  
• The long-range plan for the City includes a Local Radio Station, and a Cable Station.
  

Here are some other attributes of a university city that may or may not be present in Colwood:

• A significant portion of the local economy depends on the student population;
  
• The city’s economy follows the normal cycle of the academic years;
  
• The university has an open relationship with other communities surrounding it and the relationship between the university and its surrounding communities is synergistic;
  
• The quality of cultural life distinguishes a university town from any other place;
  
• Life in a university city revolves around college students;
  
• Different units of universities are scattered around the town, with departments and colleges interspersed with commercial and residential districts of the city;
  
• University is the largest employer in the city;
  
• Good environment and tranquil setting to enable the establishment of a prestigious identity for the University city;
  
• Availability of additional hectares of land for possible future expansion;
  
• Residential sites nearby to provide, in addition to hostels and quarters, off-campus accommodation, particularly to staff, workers employed in the university; and
  
• A significant percentage of the student body is international.
  

Universities play an important role in the knowledge economy and those who live and work in a university city likely to enjoy the higher wages, higher education levels, and higher standard of living relative to an average city. It must be recognized that universities are being transformed from culture-producing institutions to income-producing and distributing entities which is empowering cities to attract real estate investments in a variety of ways. For instance, in addition to being largest employers in most of the cities, universities provide the study stream of students and visiting professors ensuring a good rental market, job markets are helped along by the well-educated population, and many people retire to university cities.

Colwood may have to go a long way to transform into a university city but the important thing to recognize is that the concept of becoming a university is a journey not a destination.

Acknowledging the fact that Bjola’s vision not only will intensify Colwood to become a university city, it will also help address the major environmental challenges associated with the buildings – greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption. The obvious question is – Would there be any interest on the part of the Federal Government, RRU, and the City of Colwood to capitalize on this concept?

mirali@aimamc.com