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April 18, 2013 Is the block program too demanding? It's 8:35 a.m. on January 24th. I have 25 minutes before class starts, but I already know this day will be a struggle. My eyes are worn out and my hair is greasy and unkempt. I haven't slept right in nearly three days and I'm stressed. The lingering question reappears in my head. Is Quest University's block program. Read more... March 21, 2013 Quest professor turns terrible sleep into passion for study If he had to choose the worst person in history, Quest professor Dr. Neal Melvin deadpanned that Thomas Edison takes the cake. While he has been widely credited with "inventing" the light bulb - a distinction that really belongs to Humphry Davy - there's no question that Edison improved on that invention, creating a commercially practical, reliable and long-lasting source of light that could be used to lights homes. Read more... March 20, 2013 Quest University's Untraditional Approach To Education We don't have to look very far to see that our education system starting show cracks in its traditional foundation. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) such as Coursera, Udacity, and edX are experiencing steady growth. Recently a U.S. bill was introduced that would enable public universities in California to award credit for classes taken online. The digital world isn't the only place bent on disrupting the current system. Read more... March 14, 2013 Quest hopes to engage more than students Quest University opened with a vision to provide a different kind of undergraduate education that engages students and prepares them for a world where problems are solved across disciplines and through collaboration. Six years later and with two graduating classes under its belt, the postsecondary institution is living up to that mandate by ranking No. 1 in North America for student engagement. Over the next five years, officials hope to continue to expand and see the university improve upon its engagement of the Sea to Sky community as well. Read more... March 10, 2013 Survey shows high student satisfaction at Quest Quest University is getting top marks from its small student population. On a distinctly spring day near the end of winter the energy at Quest University was noticeably abundant Saturday, March 9 for the annual preview day held at the campus in Squamish. Read more... March 2, 2013 Quest men's basketball team wins bronze The Quest University Kermodes men's basketball team won a grand total of one game last season, this season they won twice in the postseason alone. The team capped off a turnaround season by winning the bronze medal at the Pacwest Provincial championships after defeating Douglas College 103-86 in Victoria on Saturday (March 2). Read more... February 7, 2013 How well do Canadian universities follow best practices? The National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) asks first- and senior-year students dozens of specific questions about how they spend their time in and out of the classroom. NSSE is a study of best educational practices and an assessment of the degree to which each university follows those practices. Read more... View one example [PDF, 876 KB] of a NSSE question, as was posted in the February 2013 Maclean's Magazine. January 31, 2013 Q&A with David Helfand, president of Quest University Quest University, six-years old and growing, is unique in Canadian education. It offers students courses in 3.5-week blocks allowing them to focus all day on a single subject. The school is also set apart in that students explore a single question in the latter half of their four-year Bachelor of Arts and Sciences degrees. The serene campus setting in the Coast Mountains near Vancouver would make just about any student jealous. There is a catch: it's $40,000 when room, board and fees are added. Maclean's has explored Quest before. Here's an update from Ivy League astronomer turned Quest president David Helfand. Read more... January 18, 2013 Alec Loorz of Ventura to receive Coretta Scott King A.N.G.E.L. Award in Atlanta At 18, Alec Loorz of Ventura is already an old hand at speaking in front of crowds and receiving honors for his work as founder of Kids vs. Global Warming. But today he will be on a national stage in Atlanta, Ga., where he will be named the first recipient of the inaugural Coretta Scott King A.N.G.E.L. Award - Advancing Nonviolence through Generations of Exceptional Leadership - which recognizes young leaders ages 12-25. Read more... January 4, 2013 Canada's Roz Groenewoud fierce and fashionable on the superpipe In the classroom at Quest University in Squamish, she is studious Rosalind H. Groenewoud, the cerebral daughter of a geophysicist. Read more... November 1, 2012 Survival skills tested in the Canadian wilderness They spread out along the riverbank in groups of four or five, gathering information about a proposed run-of-river hydroelectric project. One group uses surveying equipment to sketch a profile of the riverbed. Another photographs and documents species of plants while discussing how the project might affect them. A third group uses an instrument to measure the flow-rate of the river. Read more... October 22, 2012 The great experiment: Quest University's radical step in higher education I'm blindfolded and barefoot, standing on a cool mossy patch with one arm grasping the trunk of a hemlock tree in a futile attempt to feel somewhat secure. The forest is quiet except for a river flowing nearby. Suddenly the oppressive silence (I’m a dedicated urbanite) is broken by the sound of a slow drum beat seemingly hundreds of metres away. I reluctantly let go of my hemlock and take an uneasy step toward the sound. Read more... October 21, 2012 Quest qualifies for Provincials For the third straight season, the Quest University Kermodes women's soccer team is heading to the postseason. Quest went into Sunday's (Oct. 21) game against the Kwantlen Eagles needing at least a win or a tie and the Kermodes exploded for one of their biggest offensive outbursts of the year, beating the Eagles 3-0. Read more... October 5, 2012 Transforming the ivory tower: The case for a new postsecondary education system More students are attending university than ever before, a fact that puts Canada at the top of the world’s most educated countries. But what students are finding are overcrowded classrooms and outmoded teaching methods. And when they leave university, they are likely saddled with debt. In this interactive, The Globe and Mail shows the challenges facing postsecondary education and feature the voices of innovators who are trying to come up with solutions. Read more... October 5, 2012 Education Innovator David Helfand of Quest University Canada has abandoned traditional university models to offer his students a model that lets them study one course at a time. He says his "block system" increases engagement and critical thinking. Read more... October 2, 2012 Helfand touts alternative university model Drawing on his experience as president of Quest University Canada, David Helfand spoke about reforming traditional university models to better focus on undergraduate students and how individuals' brains function in the Rockefeller Center on Monday as part of the "Leading Voices in Higher Education" lecture series. In a packed lecture hall, Helfand said that Quest's goal is to escape the cynical academic culture that commonly defines North American universities. Read more... September 13, 2012 Quest continues steady growth Dr. David Helfand has a lot to smile about these days. The president of Quest University has witnessed firsthand the growth of the school and that growth has continued into the new fall session, which saw a 156 first-year students enrol - a seven per cent increase over last year's record incoming class. Read more... June 11, 2012 New Student Residences To Be Built At Quest University Canada Quest University Canada has begun construction on the first of five new residence units to house the University's rapidly expanding student population. The first new construction since the core campus was completed in 2007, this project marks the next major step in the University's development. Read more... May 17, 2012 First-year Quest University Student from Calgary Proposes New Solution to One of the United States' Most Vexing Water Management Problems A first-year Quest University Canada student, Noelani (Olenka) Forde from Calgary, Alberta, likely didn't realize the full impact her course assignment would have when she submitted it to her Earth-Oceans-Space tutor in April 2010. Two years later, the Journal of the American Water Resources Association (JAWRA) has published a paper, co-authored by Forde and her professor Rich Wildman, inspired by that very same assignment. Read more... April 11, 2012 Quest University Canada Announces New Chancellor Quest University Canada is delighted to announce the appointment of Dr. Daniel R. Birch as the University's Chancellor. The appointment has been confirmed by a unanimous vote of the Quest Board of Governors. Read more... March 27, 2012 Quest University takes an unorthodox approach to learning They gather around tables in groups of four or five, preparing to bid on land that will be auctioned off tomorrow. Some analyze complicated geological maps and manipulate models made of modelling clay, theorizing about ground water patterns. Others sketch on graph paper and scrutinize rock samples in an effort to identify the most promising spots for exploratory oil drilling. Read more... February 20, 2012 Quest students abandon classroom for tents in Hawaii There are school field trips, and then there are Quest University field trips. A group of five students in a volcanology class took their studies to Hawaii for 11 days between Jan. 19 and 30. The students and Prof. Steve Quane linked up with scientists in Hawaii connected to the United States Geological Survey Group to help with volcano research. Read more... February 14, 2012 Squamish's Quest University earns top marks in national survey One of B.C.'s newest universities earned top marks in the latest National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE). Quest University, which opened in September 2007 in the Squamish Highlands, ranked first in Canada on five measures of educational quality. Read more... February 14, 2012 Quest University Canada Ranked Number One Among Canadian Institutions By National Survey of Student Engagement Quest University Canada, a university that welcomed its first students in September 2007, has confirmed that its results from the 2011 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) place it first in Canada in undergraduate educational quality. NSSE only provides the average scores for Canadian and US schools. While Quest is notably higher than these averages, Macleans.ca 'On Campus' has now revealed the full ranking of scores showing Quest on top in all five of the survey's benchmark categories. Read more... February 8, 2012 How students rate their experiences at 62 Canadian schools Click on the charts to see results from the 2011 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), a study that university administrators pore over each year to find out how their students are learning. Both first and senior-year students have answered questions that illustrate how well their universities performed on the five Benchmarks of Effective Educational Practice: level of academic challenge, student-faculty interaction, active and collaborative learning, enriching educational experience, and supportive campus environment. You may be surprised about who's on top. It's not always the same schools that rank highly in the Maclean's University Rankings. Read more... January 23, 2012 Study of Volcanology Leads Quest University Canada Students to Hawaii While most university students are settling back into their campus classrooms after the holiday break, a group of students from Quest University Canada is engaging in a classroom setting like no other. The Volcanology class at Quest is Hawaiibound this month (January 20-30) to explore first-hand how a volcanologist conducts research. The trip is a critical part of Quest's commitment to experiential learning, and is enabled by the fact that Quest operates on a Block Plan schedule. Read more... January 20, 2012 David Helfand's New Quest After 35 years at Columbia University, where he was chairman of the astronomy department and co-director of the Astrophysics Laboratory, David J. Helfand is on leave to serve as president of Quest University Canada, a tiny liberal arts college in British Columbia that graduated its first class last spring. It is Canada's only private, secular nonprofit university. Dr. Helfand had his share of crusades at Columbia: he waged a long campaign to have a science class added to the core curriculum (he won); he declined tenure, arguing that senior professors' performance should be reviewed every five years by an ad hoc faculty committee (he won for himself, but Columbia kept the tenure system for everybody else). Read more... January 3, 2012 Quest University Canada's Robert Knop Part of Nobel Prize-Winning Physics Team When the 2011 Nobel Prizes were handed out in Stockholm, Sweden on December 11, Quest University Canada's physical science tutor Dr. Robert Knop was there. Knop attended the event to celebrate the awarding of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics "for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae". One half of the prize went to Berkeley scientist Saul Perlmutter with whom Knop worked closely in Berkeley during the final analysis that led to the discovery. Brian P. Schmidt and Adam G. Riess shared the other half of the prize. Read more... December 30, 2011 Quest's Knop shares Nobel glory When the Nobel Prize committee handed out the 2011 prizes on Dec. 11, Quest University's Dr. Robert Knop was there. Knop, a physical science tutor at the Squamish university, attended the ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden as part of the team that won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe through observations of distant supernovae, Quest officials said in a statement issued on Wednesday (Dec. 28). Read more... December 29, 2011 'Block plan' education finds new appeal among universities A teaching strategy that offers Canadian university students consecutive intensive courses compressed into a few weeks is making inroads at smaller postsecondary schools across the country. Read more... November 1, 2011 Quest University Canada's Unique Educational Model Underscored in Independent Survey North American schools are once again combing through results from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) to understand how students rank their level of engagement in their university studies. This year, both first-year and fourth year students at Quest University Canada completed the survey, and the results were again notably higher than the scores of other universities. Read more... October 31, 2011 Survey confirms Quest's 'leading position': Helfand Quest University officials this week expressed delight with the results of the latest National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), characterizing the numbers as confirmation of the school's efforts to provide meaningful student-faculty engagement and, ultimately, prepare them for future success. Read more... October 31, 2011 John Sollers to give free public lecture at Quest University Canada Quest University Canada is pleased to welcome Professor John Sollers from the Department of Psychological Medicine in the Faculty of Medical & Health Science at the University of Auckland, Auckland, NZ. Dr. Sollers will give a free lecture on Monday November 14th, 2011 at 7:30pm in the Multipurpose Room at Quest University Canada. This talk is part of Quest's monthly colloquium series speakers. Read more... September 13, 2011 Quest enrollment skyrockets Its nickname is "the little university that could." And despite getting its start in a flat economy and building slowly - almost to the point of confusion for Sea to Sky residents - Quest University has increased its enrollemt by over 50 per cent. Read more... September 8, 2011 First Year Enrolment Increases 51% at Quest University Canada As schools everywhere welcome students back to class this week and celebrate the start of a new year, Quest University Canada in Squamish, British Columbia has an even bigger cause for celebration. The graduating class of 2015 will be significantly larger than its predecessors due to a major increase in enrolment this September. The incoming class in 2011 is 51% larger than last year. Read more... August 31, 2011 NSSE Rates Quest Well Above Other Canadian and US Institutions The results of the 2010 National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE) show Quest University Canada's undergraduates are receiving a high quality undergraduate education and are amongst the most engaged in their studies. This is the first time Quest, which welcomed the first students to its unique program in 2007, has taken part in the survey. Read more... July 11, 2011 Helfand to Serve as Full-Time President at Quest University Canada The Board of Governors of Quest University Canada announced today that Professor David J. Helfand has agreed to serve as full-time President of the University. Helfand became a Founding Tutor at Quest when he took a leave from his faculty position at Columbia University during the Fall of 2007. For the past three years, he has led the institution on an interim basis, much of the time while commuting to New York. Read more... May 13, 2011 It's a small world, after all A contingent of young people from various parts of the world descended on the Quest University campus on the weekend, eager to build on their commitment to making the Earth a better place and to share success stories from around the world. Held from May 6 to 8, the first-ever Canadian Global Issues Network (GIN) conference attracted more than 60 participants from North America and Europe, including students from Howe Sound Secondary. Read more... May 4, 2011 The Quest for Knowledge No one denies Quest University was a risk. From the outset the small, private, non-profit secular liberal arts university faced enormous obstacles. But as the students of the first graduating class crossed the stage last weekend, those obstacles seemed less daunting and the future bright for a university that chose to break the mould of traditional post secondary education. Read more...  April 30, 2011 Historic Class of 2011 Graduates From Quest University Canada in First-Ever Commencement Ceremony Today, Quest University Canada (Quest) bestowed degrees upon 49 young men and women at the University's very first Commencement Ceremony. Hailing from Canada, Australia, Bhutan, Bulgaria, Germany, Nigeria, Uganda, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the graduates became firmly entrenched in the University's history books as its inaugural "Class of 2011". Quest, founded four years ago to provide an innovative approach to post-secondary education in Canada, is today the focus of celebration for all that has been accomplished by so many. Read more... March 18, 2011 Squamish's Quest University looks forward to first convocation A small university has been experimenting with a new form of undergraduate education in the Squamish highlands for almost four years, and is now preparing for its first graduation ceremony this spring. It's an occasion many hope will also signal to the world its coming-of-age. Read more... February 24, 2011 The student's Quest When Celeta Cook of Deseronto, Ont., applied five years ago as a 17-year-old to Quest University, the hilltop site in the coastal mountain community of Squamish, B.C., was little more than dirt and dreams. "I did my preview day in a hard hat and a reflective vest," says Cook, now part of Quest's first grad class this April 30. The library will be finished, she was promised, "it just hasn't been built yet." Far from being put off, she was excited. "All right," she said, "I'll see you guys in September." She was one of 73 students in 2007. There are now about 300, as it builds toward its capacity of 650 - still smaller than most of the high schools the students came from. Read more... |
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