Universities need to ditch DEI and get back to excellence

If we want a knowledge economy built for the AI era, writes Mikko Packalen, we should follow the American lead and radically re-centre the focus of funding agencies and universities back onto education and discovery. Photo by Flashvector/Getty Images/Postmedia files

In recent years, Canadian universities have drifted from their core purposes — education and discovery — toward a divisive program of redistribution and social change.

Ottawa bears significant responsibility for this shift. The federal granting councils for science and engineering, health and the social sciences have weaved “ diversity, equity and inclusion ” (DEI) into their rules for access and adjudication. In practice, DEI now means: mandatory self‑identification questionnaires for applicants and reviewers, comp