The overall Georgian College experience at the World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics (WFCP) World Congress was memorable in many ways. First, having the conference held in Canada in the beautiful city of Montreal was a tremendous opportunity for college representatives from across the country to gather and learn from one another and from international colleagues.

Georgian College viewed the congress theme of Collective Intelligence as a great opportunity for team learning and development and assembled a contingent of staff, faculty, and administrators from across different areas of the college to attend. An added bonus was the fact that Georgian College, specifically the Indigenous Studies and Services area were nominated as one of three finalists for the WFCP Indigenous Education Excellence Award.

From our perspective, the conference was outstanding, starting with the welcoming address from the elder, the workshop offerings which covered an array of topics relevant to the post-secondary sector, presenters were knowledgeable and current, the three keynote addresses were all powerful and thought provoking, and the conference facility was spacious and offered great opportunity for networking with colleagues.

It was with a sense of anticipation that the Georgian team gathered for the Awards of Excellence ceremony held on the final day of the conference. When Georgian College was announced as the gold award winner, the sense of anticipation was replaced with a sense of teamwork, pride, accomplishment, humility and most importantly an affirmation of the work that we do collectively at Georgian to benefit current and future students.  Based on Team Georgians’ experience at the World Congress we would highly recommend participating at future WFCP World Congress gatherings. Miigwech, Nia:wen Maarsii, thank you.

The World Federation of Colleges and Polytechnics organizes a World Congress every 1-2 years. The international gathering attracts 1000+ experts and professionals in the field of professional technical education and training from all continents. The WFCP 2023 Congress was held in Montréal, Canada, from April 23– 25, 2023. Hosted by Colleges and Institutes Canada, the Congress’ theme of ‘Collective Intelligence’ resonated with the amazing host city, Montréal, renowned as a hub of cultural, environmental, social and artificial intelligence!