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Ryerson University is the first Canadian educational institution to be named a Changemaker campus by Ashoka, a global leader in social innovation.

Founded by entrepreneur Bill Drayton, Ashoka is globally recognized for its efforts in driving social change through its prestigious Ashoka Fellows program – honoring leaders such as Kiva co-founder Matt Flannery, Wikipedia inventor Jimmy Wales and Free the Children co-founder Marc Kielburger – through its drive to advance social entrepreneurship education and training.

Ryerson, known as Canada’s comprehensive innovation university, has a long-standing tradition of community engagement. Its unique mission is to serve societal needs.

Ryerson joins a select group of universities after completing a rigorous selection process involving months of assessments, interviews, site visits and strategy sessions.  The final evaluation by a team of international judges took place near Washington, D.C in August. The designation reflects Ryerson’s success in mainstreaming entrepreneurship across its programs – whether in engineering, business, fashion or social work -- Ryerson students and faculty are committed to effecting change and driving innovation and have the skills to lead.

Among the 24 institutions with the designation are Duke University, Brown University, Boston College, Brigham Young University, Cornell University, Marquette University, Arizona State University, University of Maryland and Dublin City University.

“Ryerson is delighted to be selected by Ashoka as the first university in Canada to join this worldwide initiative,” said Ryerson University President Sheldon Levy. “Innovation is in our DNA and this prestigious designation recognizes the contributions of our students, alumni, faculty and staff who bring social innovation and entrepreneurship to life every day through their work, study and research. We look forward to working with our partners in the Changemaker network and finding ways to drive innovation in our community and beyond and to leading change across institutions.”

Already an important hub in Canada’s innovation ecosystem, Ryerson is transforming education in Canada through its commitment to entrepreneurship and innovation.  Building on the runaway success of its Digital Media Zone (DMZ), its unique approach to “zone learning” provides mentorship, space and encouragement for student innovation and cross-disciplinary collaboration. Innovators and students from leading institutions in China, Israel and India are coming to Ryerson’s DMZ. The University recently established the new Bombay Stock Exchange Institute-Ryerson zone to be housed at the Mumbai Stock exchange.

“Ryerson’s unique “zone learning” model of education provides the space and support needed to encourage student innovation and cross-disciplinary collaboration,” says Ashoka Changemaker Campus director, Michèle Leaman. “It’s an exemplary experiential learning model that encourages creative, systems-wide thinking in students.”

According to Ryerson’s Vice President Research and Innovation Wendy Cukier: “Innovation and entrepreneurship, whether for profit or social good, require similar attitudes, knowledge and processes. Above all they require learning by doing. You cannot learn surfing from a textbook and Ryerson prides itself on applying research to solve real-world problems, providing experiential learning for students and helping them start their own businesses and social ventures. The Changemaker steering committee and process helped surface dozens of social innovation projects and strengthen connections across faculties. Diversity is the foundation of innovation and you can achieve great things when you bring business students with social work students and communications students together with engineers and scientists to solve real problems.”

Ryerson University is Canada's leader in innovative, career-oriented education and a university clearly on the move. With a mission to serve societal need, and a long-standing commitment to engaging its community, Ryerson offers more than 100 undergraduate and graduate programs. Distinctly urban, culturally diverse and inclusive, the university is home to more than 38,000 students, including 2,300 master's and PhD students, nearly 2,700 faculty and staff, and more than 140,000 alumni worldwide. Research at Ryerson is on a trajectory of success and growth: externally funded research has doubled in the past four years. The G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education is Canada's leading provider of university-based adult education. For more information, visit www.ryerson.ca

Founded by Bill Drayton in 1980, Ashoka has elected and supported over 3,000 social entrepreneurs – individuals with innovative solutions to society’s most pressing social problems – in over 70 countries.  Ashoka provides start-up financing, professional support services, and connections to a global network across business and social sectors to individuals putting systems-changing ideas to work.  Ashoka envisions an Everyone a Changemaker world, capable of responding quickly and effectively to social challenges, and in which each individual has the freedom, confidence and societal support to address any social problem and drive change.

Ashoka U – the university initiative of Ashoka – seeks to catalyze innovation in higher education by fostering a thriving global network of students, faculty and community leaders committed to solving the world’s most pressing problems.  Ashoka U’s annual Exchange is a global convening for social entrepreneurship education, bringing together 650 individuals representing over 150 institutions from 40 countries to share action-oriented best practices on how to foster a campus-wide culture of social innovation.

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Johanna VanderMaas
Public Affairs
Ryerson University
Office: 416-979-5000 x 4630
johanna.vandermaas@ryerson.ca

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