Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all.
By providing quality academic programs, supporting inclusive practices, educating future educators, engaging with communities, and contributing to research and advocacy in education, Wilfrid Laurier University is making a positive impact on the education landscape and helping to achieve SDG 4.
The work that Laurier completed in 2025 to advance SDG 4.
Reenie Banks-Daynes (BA ’05) arrived at Wilfrid Laurier University’s Waterloo campus in the fall of 2001 carrying more than just textbooks and dorm essentials. The Toronto resident brought years of academic frustration, a recent diagnosis of predominantly inattentive attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and quiet uncertainty about what learning in a university classroom would be like.
“The only reason I was successful and did as well as I did in university was because I had a learning environment that worked for me and instructors who supported that.”
The turning point in Banks-Daynes’ academic experience came when she met with staff in Accessible Learning to discuss learning strategies that met her needs.
September is a month of new beginnings — not just for the record-setting 233 students entering Laurier Brantford’s Bachelor of Education program, but for recent BEd alumni as well. A few kilometres south of Laurier’s Brantford campus, the Grade 4/5 French immersion students at Madonna Della Libera Catholic Elementary School have a new teacher. It’s Victoria Campbell Windle’s first class of her very own, and a meaningful milestone for this Brantford local. The daughter of a French teacher and high school principal, teaching is, as she describes it, “the family business,” but it was Laurier that gave her the chance to make it her own.
Through a growing array of community partnerships, the Faculty of Arts at Wilfrid Laurier University is providing students with experiential learning opportunities to develop future-ready skills while making meaningful contributions to local organizations.
A recent collaboration between Wilfrid Laurier University and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) is advancing inclusive education across schools in nine island nations. A two-day education forum focused on making schools more accessible for students brought together more than 30 education delegates from OECS-member countries and Canadian experts at the Balsillie School of International Affairs from June 26 to 27, 2025. Chiefs of education, education planners, curriculum leads, and inclusive education specialists from the OECS met with researchers from Laurier and education experts from across Canada to exchange experiences, share findings and explore strategies for inclusive education.
Six Nations Polytechnic, a postsecondary organization recognized as a centre of excellence for Indigenous knowledge, and Wilfrid Laurier University have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to strengthen academic ties to better serve Indigenous peoples in Ontario.
Wilfrid Laurier University welcomed more than 200 Black students in grades five through eight from 45 elementary schools in the Waterloo Region District School Board (WRDSB) during the second annual Black Brilliance conference in February.
Funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Undergraduate Student Research Award (USRA) program enables talented, hardworking students to learn from mentors in their respective STEM fields. During 16-week internships, students gain real-world work experience and potentially kickstart a path toward future graduate studies.
Laurier research centres advancing SDG 4.
The Centre for Leading Research in Education (CLRiE) brings together Laurier faculty, staff and students, as well as researchers and partners from external community organizations with backgrounds in education, psychology, kinesiology, music, health studies, biology, languages and literatures, history, social work, youth and children’s studies, global studies and more. The centre aspires to support research and research-related activities in education. A salient feature of CLRiE is its focus on interdisciplinarity, encouraging the development of thoughtful, balanced and creative approaches to educational research in a changing world.
Laurier initiatives in 2024 that advanced SDG 4.
Laurier Continuing Education supports the growing adult learner community through timely and relevant learning experiences designed for today’s working professionals. The program is backed by Laurier’s reputation for academic quality and teaching excellence and inspired by our local and global community needs. Laurier Continuing Education allows more flexibility, relevancy and openness for professional and community-focused learning.
Laurier’s Faculty of Education offers a Bachelor of Education degree integrating theory and practice to develop teachers for a changing world. Our program includes diverse courses and substantial practical experience in partner schools and alternative placements, both locally and globally. Laurier’s interdisciplinary Master of Education program provides educational leaders and professionals from a wide range of employment fields with an advanced and integrated conceptual understanding of the relationship between educational theory, practice and reflection. The Master of Education, Student Affairs Field allows candidates to focus their studies related to educational theories and practices with a specific focus on student affairs and services at the postsecondary level.
Discover how Laurier is contributing to United Nations Sustainable Development Goal targets.
