Ashoka Canada's Changemaker Campuses

Changemaker Campuses

Ashoka Canada seeks to give all young people the opportunity to master changemaking skills and have a changemaking experience before the age of 20. Ashoka U helps break down barriers to institutional change and fosters a culture of social innovation in higher education.

Since 2008, Ashoka has recognized 37 leading institutions globally that are advancing social innovation as a core value in education through the Changemaker Campus designation. Through conversations, interviews, written analysis, and in-person site visits, Ashoka U aims to simultaneously evaluate and advance the social innovation efforts at each potential Changemaker Campus to provide inspiration, connections, and support to embed social innovation.

Thanks to an investment from the J. Armand Bombardier Foundation and the RBC Foundation, as well as our close partnership with the J.W. McConnell Family Foundation's RECODE Initiative, we began to shape Canada’s Ashoka U landscape in 2012 with the designation of our first Changemaker Campuses: Ryerson University, followed by Wilfrid Laurier University.

Ashoka U offers three distinct engagement opportunities for colleges and universities:

Changemaker Campus Designation

Ashoka U’s flagship program, the Changemaker Campus designation, recognizes colleges and universities that have embedded social innovation as a core value through a rigorous selection process. This Changemaker Campus consortium is a dynamic, global network of leading colleges and universities that commit to advancing social innovation at their campus and beyond.

The Commons

The online Commons introduces the Changemaker Campus approach and facilitates cohorts of institutions to work together on specific building blocks of social innovation education, with an experienced coach over a period of three months.

The Exchange

The Exchange is an annual gathering that brings together more than 700 higher education stakeholders that represent more than 150 colleges and universities around the world, to collectively reimagine how colleges and universities can catalyze long-term change and social impact.

Click here to learn more about Ashoka U or to recommend a campus to our growing network.