Saint John’s mayor and council are throwing their support behind the Integrated Health Initiative at the University of New Brunswick’s Saint John campus.
The $107-million initiative is made up of five pillars, including education, research, social innovation, and commercialization.
It also includes a proposed $38-million Health and Social Innovation Centre on the site of the former Ward Chipman Library.
UNB vice-president Dr. Petra Hauf told city council this week that they are still awaiting provincial support before beginning construction of the centre.
“I can tell you the moment we have funding commitment from the province, it will take 20 months to move into the building,” Hauf said during Monday’s meeting.
Council voted unanimously to have Mayor Donna Reardon send a letter to the province expressing the city’s support for the new three-and-a-half-storey centre.
The overall initiative, said Hauf, should attract an additional 500 students to the campus over the next eight years and lead to $40 million in payroll growth for faculty, staff, researchers and students.
“We need the space and the new technologies and classroom settings for active learning for those extra 500 students but also to create a research space that is conducive to this integrated approach to health research,” she said.
The initiative also includes several new educational programs, including the Bachelor of Health degree program which was launched last year.
Hauf said the incoming class for September is “way higher” than the university had anticipated, noting that more than 50 per cent of students enrolled are from outside the province. By comparison, an average of 90 per cent of students on the UNB Saint John campus are from New Brunswick.
She said while the Saint John campus was built to serve the local region, more students from elsewhere are needed to help with the province’s population growth.
“We have to design programs that actually attract students to come here. The health program has shown this,” said Hauf.
A new MBA program specializing in health management is expected to launch in October with plans also in the works for an extra-curricular certificate and graduate degree programs.
Also included in the initiative is the development of five new health research clusters in digital health, child rights for child health, public health and health policy, management in health, and aging in the community.
UNB is also working with Opportunities New Brunswick and The Lark Group as part of the initiative to establish a Health and Technology District on the Saint John campus.
According to Hauf’s presentation, Phase 1 would see a $30-million private-sector investment that would attract about 30 new businesses up to 1,000 new jobs.
She said they anticipate two additional phases, which also have locations identified on the UNB Saint John campus. The $70-million investment would provide space for even more businesses and create up to 2,500 jobs.
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