Quest University

Quest University Canada was originally created as the Sea to Sky University in May 2002, when the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia passed the Sea to Sky University Act.[14][15] One of the purposes cited in the Act was to create a university that would "offer a rigorous and well-rounded university education in the arts and sciences with a global focus."[16] Quest is the brainchild of Dr. David Strangway (7 June 1934 – 13 December 2016), who, after his retirement as president of UBC, wished to create a new kind of university where undergraduates guided their own studies in close cooperation with faculty.[17]

Together with Quest founding directors Blake Bromley and Peter Ufford, Strangway formed the Sea to Sky Foundation and began soliciting contributions and searching for land.[18] The foundation received grants from the J.W. McConnell Foundation, R. Howard Webster Foundation, and the Stewart and Marilyn Blusson Foundation, which allowed it to begin hiring staff and faculty and launch the university's operations.[18] Bromley, a lawyer specializing in charitable law, recruited many wealthy clients to donate shares to the foundation, many of which were sold back to donors after a charitable tax receipt had been issued, a move that triggered an investigation from the Canada Revenue Agency.[19] In October 2005, the Sea to Sky University changed its name to Quest University Canada.[20] The school officially opened its doors to students in 2007, becoming the first private, secular university in Canada.[18]

During its first years of operation, the university underwent a number of administrative changes. David Strangway stepped aside as president and was replaced by Thomas L. Wood, who had served for 14 years as president of Mount Royal College and three years as Quest's Chief Academic Officer. Less than a year later, Wood was replaced by an interim president, Dean Duperron. Duperron's appointment was the result of a proposed alliance with CIBT Education Group, but the alliance was dissolved within a month.[21][22]

The Board of Governors invited Dr. David Helfand, chair of the astronomy department at Columbia University, to serve as interim president. Helfand had been an advisor to the school's founders in 2005, and had been a visiting tutor since 2007.[23] He became interim president in 2008. In 2011, Quest graduated its first class. That same year, Helfand took a long-term leave of absence from Columbia to continue the presidency at Quest, which he retained through August 2015.[24][25]

Dr. Peter Englert succeeded Helfand.[26][27] He served until 8 May 2017 when he was removed by the university's Board of Governors.[28][29] Dr. George Iwama was appointed as Quest's Vice-Chancellor and fifth President on 25 August 2017.[30][31] In September 2017 Quest named its newest chancellor, Peter Webster, president of the R. Howard Webster Foundation.[32] In February 2018 the University cancelled its athletics program, the Quest Kermodes, citing the need to cut costs to reduce its high debt load.[33]

On January 16, 2020, after it was unable to pay a $23 million loan that was due, Quest was granted protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, with PriceWaterhouseCoopers acting as the monitor.[10][34] The University stated that it would continue to operate as usual and would continue active recruiting for the next year.[10][34] The University has over $40 million in secured debt, with the largest loan being to the Vanchorverve Foundation, which is managed by co-founder Blake Bromley.[34]

On February 13, 2020, the Vanchorverve Foundation officially pursued a lawsuit against the university, seeking to bypass the university's credit protection and collect the full loan. The lawsuit alleges that Quest violated a contract with the foundation by fraudulently offering the mortgage to its core academic buildings and dorms a second time in order to acquire more large loans from a third party, without notifying the Vanchorverve foundation.[35] That action allegedly allows the foundation to immediately collect all outstanding debt from the university; however, the lawsuit did not proceed, as the CCAA process does not allow legal actions to be taken without the permission of the court and the monitor, which was not granted.[35][12]

On October 29, 2020, Quest University announced that an agreement had been signed with Primacorp Ventures, an investment company which owns and manages commercial and educational real estate. Under the agreement, Quest will sell their campus lands to Primacorp and then lease them back in order to continue operations.[36]

In their first two years of study, students enroll in 16 Foundation courses. After completing the mandatory Cornerstone and Rhetoric classes, they go on to take 14 courses chosen from five major divisions: Social Sciences, Life Sciences, Physical Sciences, Mathematics, and Arts & Humanities. They must also fulfil a language requirement.

Toward the end of the Foundation Program, students take a course called Question. Working with an instructor and a faculty mentor, they develop a statement of Question: a proposal for how they will study a topic of particular interest to them. The Question is in lieu of a conventional major, serves as the basis for the remaining two years of study, and inspires the student's Keystone project.

The remaining two years are known as the Concentration Program. With the help of a faculty advisor, students design a personalized program, which consists of four principal elements:

1. a statement of the Question
2. a course plan
3. a list of related readings
4. a Keystone project

Along with their Concentration (or Focus) Courses, students take between one and four Experiential Learning Blocks, hands-on work that can take place in the private sector, not-for-profit, government or many other settings. Quest states that the purpose of Experiential Learning is to show students how their interests manifest in the world and help them gain direct experience.[38] Students also take three or more Electives.

Quest operates on the Block Plan, where students take one course at a time, meeting every weekday for 3.5 weeks. The academic year is divided into two terms. Fall Term usually runs from September to mid-December, and Spring Term typically runs from January to the end of April. There are four Blocks per term, and full-time students take eight Blocks per year.

Quest claims that the Block Plan allows scheduling flexibility: students can decide which Blocks are spent on courses and which are spent traveling, working, or exploring other pursuits. The school also notes that Block scheduling permits faculty to run Field Studies, off-campus learning experiences that can run for several weeks. Many Field Studies involve fees, which range from nominal to significant.[39] Quest also offers Study Abroad. Students can spend one or two academic terms at a selection of partner universities around the world.[40]

To graduate, students must complete a Keystone project, the culmination of their studies. A Keystone can take various forms: a scientific paper, video documentary, art installation, photography exhibit, work of fiction, or research paper. Students present their Keystones to their peers, faculty and community. A few outstanding Keystones are granted Distinction, and some are chosen as Showcases that the students present to a wide audience in a formal setting. The university provides ample services to prepare students to justify, to Graduate school admissions officers, their Keystone as the equivalent to a major.

Quest University Canada has historically posted at or near the top of Canada's foremost poll of student opinion, the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE).[41][42][43]

Quest is not included in Macleans University Rankings because its enrollment is below 1000 students, the magazine's cut-off.[44] However, Macleans conducted an interview with then-President David Helfand in 2013[45] and has published several articles about the school over the years.[46] Quest has also been noted in The Globe and Mail's University Report.[47]

In the insolvency lawsuit of February 2020, court documents filed by the university in support of the application for creditor protection say that Quest has experienced operating deficits and negative cash flows for several years.[10][11][12] The university is currently up for sale.[13] It is having significant difficulty paying rent on four out of its five student dorm buildings.[48]

• David Strangway (geophysicist; founding president of Quest University Canada; President Emeritus at the University of Toronto and University of British Columbia)
• David Helfand (astrophysicist; former Chair of the Department of Astronomy at Columbia University and co-director of the Columbia Astrophysics Laboratory; President Emeritus of Quest University Canada)
• Glen Van Brummelen (mathematics scholar; past President of the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics)
• Richard Hoshino (mathematics professor; winner of the 2017 Adrien Pouliot Award for Significant and Sustained Contributions to Mathematics Education in Canada; former coach for Canadians competing in the International Mathematical Olympiad[53])