RMC is the only federally mandated university, a national institution not only for the armed forces, but also for the Canadian government.  As Canada continuously redefines its position in the international community, RMC helps prepare Canadian officers and public servants to be leaders wherever they are called upon to lead.  Girouard had the comfortable certainty of a British education in a British-led world.  Our graduates today must be prepared for a more variegated global village.  So as Registrar, my first responsibility is to support the vision of RMC as a world-class university.  Our students must have the benefits they would find at other universities, including research scholarships, travel opportunities, connections with foreign students, and exchanges.  These, in my view, are more fundamental to future leaders than red coats and drill, though those are fine traditions.    

My second responsibility is to ensure that other universities accept us as a peer, and never mistake our Cadets for anything other than first class university students.  To be a peer with other universities confers important advantages.  We get invitations to all the right events for recruiting students, for student exchanges, for faculty development, for government funding, and for research money. Our needs are on the table whenever universities are discussed. We are a university with a difference, but being ignored should not be part of that difference, if we want to keep getting the best cadets and students. 

So what can I do as Registrar to support this vision?  First, I have to run the Registrar's office like those of other universities.  I am part of both provincial and national networks of registrars; we adhere to common standards on important details like exam security, transcripts, admissions policy, transfer credits, and auditing of degrees (making sure that students have the required credits to graduate).  I have to make sure that these standards apply to all our students, that the calendar regulations are unequivocal, duly approved by college bodies, and impartially applied. 

We need the proper tools to keep scheduling and student information running smoothly.  Every March we get more than 600 admissions files.  They are manually screened, more than fifty pieces of information are manually entered for EACH file.  When the last 100 or so arrive just days before the admissions board, we scarcely have time to get them to the required three readers for evaluation.  We are working on better ways to manage admission files, timetables, transcripts, and verification of degrees.  This is necessary, but not very exciting. The exciting changes relate to courses,

scholarships, exchanges, and new opportunities to enrich the education of all the students at RMC, including cadets. 

RMC is working more closely than ever with the Canadian Forces College, the Canadian Defence Academy, and the campus at St. Jean to expand the academic content of career courses and offer university credit for them.  Mid-career officers at Staff College are now RMC students, and are being challenged to question doctrine and think critically and creatively.  War studies graduate students who have served overseas can study with cadets who have never been outside Canada.  We doubled our UTPNCM intake this year, and we are working to give cadets an opportunity to study for a semester outside the college, while still meeting the military qualification standards for RMC.

Exchanges with other military colleges and academies are accelerating.  We now have regular exchanges in place with West Point, the US Air Force Academy, and the US Naval Academy at Annapolis.  We hope to resurrect the exchange with the Australian Defence Force Academy in Canberra. These are our cultural cousins, but future exchanges might involve more challenging partners: India, Malaysia, Nigeria, or even non-English/non-French speaking countries.  Experience of the strategically important real world must inform the classroom experience at RMC.          

Every year some cadets get out to study in the margins of the stable world - the sort of places where Sir Percy made a name for himself: Mexico (Chiapas, not Cancun), the Middle East, Vietnam, and more. This year, two cadets spent the summer in Mali working with French and Malian forces on a Canada Corps scholarship, and another two worked at the Canadian International Development Agency.  Next term a third year economics student will work with Defence Construction Canada as an intern, while earning academic credit. 

The government didn't pay for all of Sir Percy's travels, and it won't pay for all of our cadets' travels today, but this is the sort of exciting and innovative study that will produce the next generation of leaders for the Canadian forces, for Canada, and for the world.  When I see what is possible I am particularly grateful for the contributions of the RMC Foundation.  A legacy in minds and open eyes is no less important than a legacy in bricks and mortar.  If we don’t get our cadets out there doing things, whose names will RMC’s future buildings bear?