Deputy Minister University Champion Initiative

Description

The Deputy Minister University Champion Initiative was launched in 2002. This initiative is a collaborative effort between the School, which serves as the secretariat, and the Privy Council Office, which appoints the deputy minister champions. It aims to strengthen linkages between the Government of Canada and Canadian universities and is designed to support robust and relevant public administration education and research so that the federal public service has access to leading ideas and theories, a new generation of public administration scholars and new employees who are well educated in modern public management.

Objectives

This initiative seeks to foster strong, sustainable relationships between the Government of Canada and Canadian universities, including students, faculty, staff, and senior leadership. The goal of the initiative is to:

establish and maintain collaborative relationships to identify shared priorities and advance common objectives
strengthen existing connections between the Government of Canada and Canadian universities, while building new networks to support larger-scale partnerships
attract and retain talent by positioning the Government of Canada as an employer of choice that offers diverse and meaningful career opportunities and career paths

Role of deputy minister university champions

Deputy ministers can support stronger connections between the public service and universities in different ways. Their involvement may vary in formality depending on the context. There is no fixed approach, but it may include the following:

Acting as connectors and relationship builders: engaging with key university partners (often at the senior leadership level) to foster ongoing dialogue and collaboration.
Advancing Government of Canada priorities: promoting government priorities in academic settings and encouraging collaboration that supports the government's agenda.
Recruitment: advising graduate students of employment opportunities in the federal public service and promoting the federal public service as a career choice.
Enabling partnerships and knowledge exchange: advancing conversations between the federal public service and academia to discuss concrete areas for collaboration and promote the flow of ideas across institutions.