Prince Albert city council will learn more Monday about a proposed memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the University of Saskatchewan that could open the door to new opportunities for research, student experience, and community development.
This type of agreement is meant to create formal channels of city-university collaborations, raising the profile of current projects while encouraging new opportunities. It also ensures encouraging new opportunities. It also ensures that city leaders and USask representatives work together consistently, rather than on a project-by-project basis.
Jay Wilson, principal of the USask Prince Albert campus, is scheduled to present to the council’s executive committee about the agreement. An MOU is a formal document that sets out shared goals and areas of collaboration without creating a binding legal contract.
“What it is, it’s an opportunity to partner with the City of Prince Albert to look for shared solutions, shared goals, and a shared vision to contribute to the well-being of the city,” Wilson said.
The proposed partnership focuses on making Prince Albert a hub of learning while contributing to economic growth and quality of life. Potential areas of collaboration include housing, mental health, wellness, economic development, reconciliation engagement, and data sharing.
Wilson said the agreement could lead to projects focused on many developments.
“There’ll be many things around health, transit, opportunities to do economic development, planning, what else, homelessness, those types of things,” he said. “So projects that have a social component to them, as well as practical things. You know, how do we organize the bus routes better? How do we deal with wastewater, those kinds of things?”
City administrators and USask representatives would meet regularly through working groups to plan and monitor projects, with an annual meeting to review progress. Most contributions are expected to be in-kind, with projects requiring additional funding considered separately.
Wilson said the partnership is also about giving students practical experience.
“Sometimes our courses are a little bit too theoretical and not practical enough,” he said. “This will provide a practical element, and it’s also a chance for the city to showcase some of the wonderful things that their staff and workers are doing to make Prince Albert a great place to live.”
USask has pursued similar agreements in other cities, including Saskatoon, where collaboration under a 2018 MOU has supported projects in civic planning, housing, transportation, and sustainability. Wilson’s presentation will outline how those successes could be adapted to Prince Albert, including opportunities for students to gain hands-on experience solving local challenges through research-driven solutions.
Wilson said he wants residents to know this partnership is rooted in Prince Albert’s needs and priorities, not a one-size-fits-all approach.
“I think it’s just really important that the University of Saskatchewan is a committed partner to Prince Albert,” Wilson said. “We’re not trying to bring in a solution from somewhere else. We’re trying to ask questions that are unique to Prince Albert and come up with unique solutions for Prince Albert.”
The executive committee meeting will be held on Monday, September 22, at the City Hall.
