Council of Ontario Universities

• Royal Military College of Canada

COU's Accessible Campus[2] website features educational videos on mental health and practical tips on everything from how to plan accessible lectures and meetings to making exam time less stressful. The website, which launched in October 2013, is the country's most significant aggregation of resources for helping universities make their campuses accessible for students with disabilities, and is a further step towards helping Ontario universities comply with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act.

Future Further[3] is a dedicated resource that provides information on supports and services to Aboriginal students interested in, or already attending an Ontario university. The website features profiles and videos of 13 Aboriginal role models who are studying at, or have recently graduated from, an Ontario university,[4] as well as resource kits for Aboriginal students interested in attending university.[5]

The website is part of COU's 'Let's Take Our Future Further' campaign launched in February 2016 on behalf of the province's 20 publicly funded universities, which aims to celebrate the achievements and contributions of Aboriginal learners and alumni at Ontario universities and to encourage current students to continue to pursue and complete their studies.[6] The COU campaign follows a report by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which put a spotlight on the need to ensure equitable access to postsecondary education for Aboriginal students.[7]

My Career Info[8] is a not-for-profit career site developed and run by the Council of Ontario Universities. The site is designed to help students, graduates, and entry-level workers access campus career services, build a strong portfolio, gain budgeting skills, and find a job that fits with their education, skills and interests. They update the site regularly with the latest news from the job sector, including new job apps, resume and interview tips, and career advice. It is designed to help students incorporate career planning directly into their degree.

Research Matters[9] is a joint project among Ontario's 21 publicly assisted universities to build new bridges between university researchers and the broader public. It is a multi-platform endeavour that involves a website and blog, social media, and public events – all designed to give Ontarians unprecedented access to the wealth of ideas and innovations happening at Ontario universities. In 2013-2014 year, Research Matters held events in five different cities across Ontario, hosting researchers who answered the question "What Matters Now?"[10] The theme for the speaker series in the previous year (2012-2013) was "Life in 2030," where researchers would look at how their research could affect life in 2030.

Research Matters ran a popular Ontario-wide Virtual Scavenger Hunt from Feb. 3 - Mar. 2, 2014 that featured the various research projects going on at each of COU's 21-member universities. The contest was designed by a fourth-year University of Toronto student Stacy Costa,[11] who is studying to be an "enigmatologist" - someone who studies all things puzzles.[12]

The Innovative Designs for Accessibility (IDeA) student competition is an annual competition where students submit innovative, cost-effective and practical solutions to accessibility-related barriers in the community. Ontario undergraduate students use their creativity and work individually or in teams with industry, government and community partners, including members of the disability community, to identify an accessibility-related issue, develop a plan to address the issue, and create an innovative and unique solution to it.

The winner of the 5th annual IDeA competition, announced in May 2016, was Carleton University undergraduate student Micah Rakoff Bellman, who developed a height-adjustable, movable table with built-in storage that provides home cooks with a comfortable and flexible work surface in the kitchen.[13]

Past winners include:

2015: Carleton University undergraduate student Quayce Thomas designed an app that promotes healthy active living by checking in to make sure users are meeting the goals they've shared with their social network.[14]

2014: Carleton University's Jasmine Yeung developed a portable toilet that can expand by four times the usual size to make life easier for people in wheelchairs, but can shrink for easy transportation. It is called E-Paw, or the Expandable Portable Accessible Washroom.[15]

2013: Carleton University undergraduate students Tim Inglis, Alim Baytekin, Natalie Lavasseur and Alborz Erfani for their invention of a lower-cost, more functional prosthetic hand that could be produced via a 3-D printer.[16]

2012: Carleton University's Will McDonald developed Accessible Tandem Cycling, which is designed to provide an accessible cycling experience.[17]